Metso Paper Reaches Agreement to Reduce Personnel in Finland

Helsinki, Finland, 05 December 2007 -- Metso Paper’s Paper and Board business line has concluded the personnel negotiations initiated at its seven Finnish locations on 11 October 2007. As a result of the negotiations, aimed at enhancing Metso Paper’s competitiveness, a personnel reduction of 210 persons in total will be carried out in Anjalankoski, Hollola, Jyväskylä, Järvenpää, Karhula, Turku, and Valkeakoski. The Karhula unit will be closed, and its responsibilities transferred to other units of the Paper and Board business line.

The measures will begin to take place in the first half of 2008 and will take 6-18 months to complete, depending on location and individual cases. The employment terminations consist of pension arrangements and discontinuation of temporary employment relationships and redundancies. Some of the personnel concerned can be offered jobs in other Metso units.

The nonrecurring expenses related to the measures are not estimated to be material to Metso Paper. The annual savings are estimated to exceed the nonrecurring expenses.

The decisions made support the Paper and Board business line's restructuring process, in which certain units and functions were merged. With these measures the business line eliminates overlapping operations and will be able to develop and strengthen sales and services closer to customers.

Metso Paper employs approximately 12,000 people, of which some 4000 work in the Finnish units of the Paper and Board business line.

Metso is a global engineering and technology corporation with 2006 net sales of approximately EUR 5 billion. Its more than 26,000 employees in more than 50 countries serve customers in the pulp and paper industry, rock and minerals processing, the energy industry, and selected other industries.

www.metso.com