Deadline for Aberdeen paper mill sale passes with no deal struck

The deadline for selling a historic Aberdeen paper mill, which went into administration with the loss of more than 300 jobs, has passed.

Stoneywood paper mill - which operated for more than 250 years - suddenly went into administration last month.

Administrators have been trying to find a buyer who would run the business as a going concern.

However, that deadline has now passed without success and assets at the site will now be sold off.

In 2019, the business was sold to a new parent company, securing the jobs at the mill.

However, administrators were appointed in September, and a total of 301 out of the 372 members of staff in Aberdeen were made redundant.

The remainder were retained to continue limited activity while the administrators explored the possibility that the mill and assets could be sold.

The mill's problems were blamed on the Covid pandemic and the economic challenges facing industrial manufacturing businesses, including rising energy costs.

Administrators were also appointed at the Arjowiggins Group mill at Chartham, Kent.

The joint administrators said in a statement: "The initial sale of business deadline passed without identifying any immediately deliverable transactions to secure the sale of either UK mill as an operational facility.

"The joint administrators will continue to look for buyers, but this will now be alongside the site wind-down strategy and the sale of assets on a piecemeal basis.

"If any party has a genuine interest in acquiring both or either mill as an operational facility, then they should contact the joint administrators immediately."

Scottish Enterprise has given the mill owners more than £12m worth of support over the last three years.

The mill had been bought for an undisclosed sum in September 2019 by subsidiaries of a new venture, Creative Paper Holdings Ltd.