The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the Finnish-Swedish producer is looking to make a bid for Mondi, which is to be floated on the London Stock Exchange by its parent company mining company Anglo American (AA).

Stora Enso's senior vice president for investor relations, Keith Russell, said the company remained committed to improving its profitability and cashflow.

"Officially the comment is no comment. We do not reply to specific acquisition rumours," said Russell.

AA announced plans to float Mondi at the beginning of this month, and an IPO is expected to happen in the next 12 months.

At the time, AA declined to rule out the possibility of finding a trade buyer for the paper and packaging manufacturing group.

Mondi has an estimated value of between 3bn-4.5bn