St. Petersburg, Russia 29 March 2016 -- Ilim Group today announced its new Business Plan to 2020, which includes investments of over USD 2 billion into existing production facilities and other operations in Russia. Investments will focus on increasing the Group's production capacity by over 500,000 tpy.

The overall investment program will cover all three of the Group's production facilities in Bratsk, Koryazhma and Ust-Ilimsk. The business plan envisages a series of measures aimed at modernization, increasing the efficiency and quality of production, minimizing the impact on the environment and increasing production levels. The mills will be developed further alongside an increase in production of the Group's own harvesting volumes as well as expanded cooperation with third-party wood suppliers.

Business Plan core items

Ust-Ilimsk. Increase production capacity by over 100,000 tpy. The company is planning to build a new woodyard and modernize treatment facilities.

Bratsk. Increase production capacity by over 300,000 tpy. Improve production quality, build a new woodyard and evaporator station.

Koryazhma. Increase production capacity by over 130,000 tpy. Build new bark boilers and turbines, modernize the recovery boiler, causticizing and lime regeneration plant, as well as paper and cardboard-making machines.

The Company is also considering the possibility of building a new softwood pulp production line in Ust-Ilimsk. The final decision will be taken by the end of the year.

Ilim CEO Franz Marx said: "This is the right decision at the right time - an opportunity to further develop Ilim Group and a chance to increase the competitiveness of the Russian pulp and paper industry as a whole. "We already have a strong track record of successfully implementing large-scale investment projects, and we have set an ambitious goal to expand and upgrade our production facilities in the next five years by investing over USD 2 billion. The successful implementation of our business plan will require the collective effort of the Company's employees, as well as hundreds of contractors and vendors in various Russian regions."