UPM claims that the companies breached a clause in the 2009 shareholders’ agreement relating to Metsä Fibre, formerly Metsä-Botnia, in which UPM traded some of its shares in Metsä Fibre's Finnish mills for ownership of its Uruguayan plantations.
As part of an amendment to the agreement in June 2011, Metsäliitto exercised its right to a call option on UPM’s 11% stake in Metsä Fibre for €150m in April 2012.
In May 2012, Metsäliitto and Metsä Board sold a combined 24.9% stake in Metsä Fibre to Itochu Corporation for €472m.
UPM-Kymenne is claiming €58.5m (£47m) in damages and unjust enrichment from Metsaliitto Corporative and its subsidiary Metsa Board.
Metsäliitto has said that UPM’s claims are unfounded and it will not book provisions in anticipation of the claim.
Metsä Fibre has pulp mills in Joutseno, Kemi, Rauma and Äänekoski, with a combined annual production capacity of 2.4m tonnes of Elemental Chlorine Free (EFC) bleached pulp. It also owns the Svir Timber sawmill in Podporozhye, Russia.
Meanwhile, UPM recorded a Q3 EBITDA of €305m, 11.8% of its €2.5bn sales for the quarter, and a pre-tax profit of €49m.
It experienced a seasonal pickup in publication papers volumes (4%) but chief financial officer Tapio Korpeinen pointed out that the company had lost significant market share at the beginning of 2012. This was reflected by a 14% decline in delivery volumes compared to Q3 2011.
Fine papers declined 8% period-on-period, which was mainly attributed to the sale of UPM’s packaging paper businesses in June this year.
"Significant" production problems and annual mill shutdown led to a reduction in UPM’s pulp inventory which UPM chief financial officer Tapio Korpeinen said could restrict pulp delivery in Q4.
Metsa Group recorded an operating result excluding no-recurring items of €67m in Q3. It expects a slight fall in paperboard sales for Q4 but paper and pulp are predicted to remain at the same level as Q3.
Metsa increased the price of Botnia Nordic Pine Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft for the second time in two months on 1 November to $820 (£514) per tonne.
