Voreppe, France 11 March 2014 -- The former Vertaris recycled pulp mill in France is set to resume operation. Delion France, a Springwater Capital subsidiary, has taken over a part of the equipment and wants to produce deinked market pulp there as from October this year.

Delion France, a subsidiary of Swiss investment company Springwater Capital, has acquired the tangible assets of the mill of defunct paper and deinked pulp manufacturer Vertaris in Voreppe, France and plans to revive the site. Michael Kihlgren, spokesman for Springwater Capital, said the contract with the Pays Voironnais municipality was signed on 7 March. The investment company has acquired the equipment necessary to produce deinked pulp, he added. There are reportedly no plans to resume paper production; the municipality has already sold the paper machines run by Vertaris. The Voreppe mill is to commence operations in October.

Delion plans to produce premium deinked dryed market pulp in Voreppe, which can be used to produce printing and writing paper, board and tissue. The annual capacity of the mill will initially amount to 140,000 tpy for which the company reportedly has to invest €15-20m. The goal is to scale up capacity to 200,000 tpy by 2016 after investing another €5m, Mr Kihlgren added. The company aims to generate sales of €100m by 2017. The restarted mill will initially provide 70 jobs.

The company also plans to produce cellulose-based insulation material. According to Mr Kihlgren, current plans envisage an output of 20,000 tpy. The company will use fibre of lower purity grade to produce the material, he explained.

Vertaris went into liquidation in July 2012. Since then, there has been talk that the mill would be sold but the sale never materialised. The last potential suitor before the mill was finally sold was Swiss investment company Activapro.