The European Commission claims several companies are "fiercely opposed" to UPM-Kymmenes 2.1bn acquisition of Haindl Paper, following initial feedback from its merger commission report (PrintWeek, 1 June).


If the merger is rejected at this stage, the Commission will raise a statement of objections. The companies will then have to come back to present amendments to their proposals.


A member of the merger task force, Dr Stephan Simon, said that around 100 merger documents had been sent out to all the relevant market players: "We expect to issue a statement from our market findings at the earliest by the beginning of September."


UPM is the worlds third largest paper producer and the leading producer of magazine papers. The addition of Haindl would put UPMs total capacity at 11.6m tonnes, 5.5m of which would be magazine papers, 2.7m newsprint and 2.4m fine papers, with the remainder speciality papers.


A questionnaire has been sent to major magazine paper purchasers in Europe and competitors of both firms asking for responses to the proposed merger. Simon said clients and competitors of the two companies, along with several North American producers that export into the EU, had received the document.


The deal was announced at the end of May this year, and also involves a separate agreement between UPM and Norske Skog, which proposes the sale of two Haindl mills for 662m to prevent the deal being rejected by the EU competition authorities.


Story by Andy Scott