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ARAUCO and Stora Enso conclude business acquisition in Uruguay

October 16, 2009.- With the transfer of assets acquired from Grupo Ence completed today, Today, ARAUCO and STORA ENSO conclude the joint venture for the management of the industrial forestry investments made in the Republic of Uruguay, which include the future construction of a pulp mill which would consolidate ARAUCO’s leadership in the production of pulp. Erwin Kaufmann, ARAUCO executive, will be the Chief Executive Officer in this new venture.

“The joint assets in Uruguay have secured the strategic foundation for a world class pulp mill, operating with state of the art technology, which will allow us to strengthen our position among the main pulp producers around the world, though ARAUCO and Stora Enso have not made a decision regarding the construction of this mill”, says Matías Domeyko, ARAUCO CEO.

The completion of this joint venture considered four essential milestones during this year:

1) On May 18 ARAUCO, together with the Swedish–Finnish transnational company, signed a joint purchase agreement with Spanish group Ence to acquire their industrial forestry assets in Uruguay. The value of the transaction was US$ 335 million.

2) On September 27, in Stockholm, Sweden, ARAUCO vice president Roberto Angelini, and ARAUCO CEO Matías Domeyko, signed the Share Contribution Agreement and the Framework Agreement by which STORA ENSO, represented by CEO Jouko Karvinen, contributed 100% of Stora Enso Uruguay S.A. shares to Forestal Cono Sur S.A., ARAUCO subsidiary in Uruguay.

3) Both parties then agreed that Erwin Kaufmann, current marketing manager at Paneles Arauco and company executive since 1992, will take on the position of Chief Executive Officer for the new venture in Uruguay.

4) The parties will integrate the assets acquired from Grupo ENCE into this joint venture on Friday, October 16. Once this has been finalized ARAUCO and STORA ENSO will own a total land base of 250,000 hectares in Uruguay, of which nearly half are forest plantations.