The business has been bought by a holding company that has not yet been active in the paper industry, according to EUWID Pulp and Paper.

Andreas Jung, spokesperson of insolvency administrator Tjark Thies of Reimer Rechtsanwa¨lte, confirmed to PrintWeek that the business has been sold but said the deal is yet to be completed.

PrintWeek understands the buyer is a private equity firm though the company thought to be the new owner had not responded to requests for comment at the time of writing and Feldmuehle told PrintWeek that “nothing can be officially confirmed” at this point.

The business is expected be taken over by the holding company with effect from next Friday (1 June), with paper production set to continue unchanged.

Employing around 420 staff and producing around 250,000 tonnes of paper a year at its mill, just west of Hamburg, Feldmuehle Uetersen has a history stretching back to 1904.

It became an independent mill again in 2015, after Stora Enso completed the sale of the business to German private equity fund Perusa Partners.

Specialising in the production of high-quality graphic, label and packaging papers for the German and international markets, the company runs two paper machines.