Helsinki, Finland 05 May 2015 -- Finnpulp Oy's softwood pulp mill investment project to Kuopio, Finland progresses as scheduled. When realized, the project, introduced to the public in early 2015 by seasoned forest industry professionals, will be the largest Finnish bioeconomy investment ever. In total, the investment will be 1,4 billion euros.

The first financing phase, carried out during spring 2015, succeeded as expected. As a result, the company gained three significant investors, who represent Finnish forest and industry know-how.

After the completed financing phase, Finnpulp starts the environmental impact assessment process immediately. Finnpulp co-operates closely with the city of Kuopio, which starts to prepare for city planning required by the project.

The annual production capacity of the planned softwood mill will be 1.2 million tons of softwood pulp. The pulp mill's location in the heart of eastern Finland's softwood resources is ideal for the company's future operations.

The pulp mill will be the world's largest production unit for softwood pulp and tall oil. In addition, it produces a significant amount of other bioproducts. The amount of bio electricity produced annually to the national grid will be about 1 TWh.