Klabin - WikiHQ

Klabin is a Brazilian paper producing, exporting and recycling company headquartered in São Paulo. It is the largest paper producer and exporter in the country, focusing on the production of pulp, packaging paper and board, corrugated cardboard packaging, and industrial sacks, besides selling timber in logs. It is controlled by Klabin Irmãos & Cia and NIBLAK Participações S/A, which jointly own 52.23% of the voting capital. It is organized into four business units (Forestry, Pulp, Paper and Converting) certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Klabin has 24 industrial plants, 23 of them in Brazil, spread over ten states, and one in Argentina. It has 400.4 thousand hectares of forests in Parana 136.3 thousand hectares in Santa Catarina, and 8.7 thousand hectares in São Paulo, of which 253.4 thousand hectares are reforested and 236.7 hectares are native areas preserved or set aside for conservation. It also maintains 14 offices distributed in different parts of Brazil.

History

Beginning and origins

left|thumb|200x200px|Monte Alegre Unit, in Parana, late 1930s.

left|thumb|200x200px|Monte Alegre Unit, in Parana, 1940s.

Klabin's history begins with the arrival of two families of Lithuanian immigrants to Brazil; the Klabins and the Lafer. In 1889, Maurício Freeman Klabin arrived in the country and, in 1890, founded the printing company M.F.Klabin & Irmão. In 1894, his uncle, Zelman Lafer, arrived with his son Miguel Lafer; his brothers Salomão, Hessel and Luiz Klabin came from the United States. Afterwards, his cousins Max Klabin, Wolff Kadischewitz, Lazar Kadischewitz and Henrique Kadischewitz also came to Brazil.

In 1899, united by their homeland and family, Lafer-Klabin brothers and cousins founded Kablin Irmãos & Cia. (KIC) in the city of São Paulo, a store, manufacturing workshop, and importer of office and typography supplies.). The rise of the Klabin Group began in this period, with expansion in the paper sector and diversification of business, such as the leasing of Manufatura Nacional de Porcelanas S/A in 1931. In 2001, the company went through a restructuring and adopted the Klabin S.A. brand.

In 2003, the company decides to cease production of newsprint and in 2008, the Expansion Project MA-1100 is inaugurated at the Monte Alegre Unit (PR).

2010s

thumb|200x200px|Monte Alegre Unit, in Telemaco Borba, in 2017.

thumb|252x252px|Construction of the industrial complex of the Puma Unit, in Ortigueira, Parana.

In 2011, Arauco Forest Brasil, a subsidiary of Celulosa Arauco y Constitución, announced, together with Klabin, the purchase of an area of 107,000 hectares of land in Parana, where 63,000 hectares are dedicated to commercial forests (reforestation). The purchase was estimated at $473.5 million, where they acquired 100% of the total capital of Florestal Vale do Corisco Ltda. based in Jaguariaíva. The intermediation was carried out by Centaurus Holdings S.A., comprising a 51% stake by Klabin and 49% by Arauco. Also in 2011, the Klabin Group made a land acquisition for the construction of a new pulp mill in Parana. Klabin entered a new phase of expansion and investments by announcing the purchase of land in Campina dos Pupos, in the town of Ortigueira, near Telemaco Borba. In 2014 the construction of the new industrial unit began and, in the same year, the State Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) Serra da Farofa Complex was created in Santa Catarina, being Klabin's largest RPPN. Covering 4,987.16 hectares of remaining Atlantic Forest area, the reserve comprises the municipalities of Bocaina do Sul, Painel, Rio Rufino, Urubici, and Urupema. The place is home to at least 600 species of flora and 75 species of fauna, including the araucaria forest, altitude fields, and the sources of the Caveiras and Canoas rivers. Also in 2014, Klabin integrates, for the first time, the BM&FBovespa's Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE). The company is also a signatory of the UN Global Compact and the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor, seeking suppliers and business partners that follow the same values of ethics, transparency, and respect for the principles of sustainability. The inauguration of the industrial complex was attended by several authorities and was the first official visit of President Michel Temer. The name officially given by the company to the factory in Ortigueira is Puma Unit.

In October 2016, the company announced the purchase of Embalplan Indústria e Comércio de Embalagens, located in the municipality of Rio Negro, in Parana, as well as the purchase of Hevi Embalagens, located in Manaus, Amazonas. With these acquisitions, the company increased its corrugated cardboard box production capacity by 10%, or 70,000 tons per year.

thumb|200x200px|Night view of the industrial complex at the Puma Unit, in Ortigueira, Parana.

thumb|200x200px|Klabin's Technology Center in Telemaco Borba.

In June 2017, Klabin's Technology Center was inaugurated in Telemaco Borba, with the objective of creating new technologies of high complexity and sustainable applications, enabling the integration of the research and development fronts of the company's business areas. The laboratories produce forest-based products and carry out simulations of the factories' production lines, complying with the company's investment plan in research, development, and innovation. targeting nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) extraction technology. In May 2019, the company started the expansion of the Puma Unit in Ortigueira, with the Puma II project. In total, it is estimated that the investment will be 9.1 billion reais in the expansion of the plant with two new machines, creating between 11 and 12 thousand jobs during the construction period.

2020s

In March 2020, Klabin expanded its packaging sector by buying the Brazilian packaging division of competitor International Paper, which represented an increase of 310 thousand tons/year. The units located in Suzano, Franco da Rocha and Paulínia (São Paulo); Manaus (Amazonas) and Rio Verde (Goiás) were acquired. The Nova Campina unit, which was included in the negotiation, was sold to the Klingele Paper & Packaging Group. In the same year, the company's net revenue reached 11.9 billion reais and Ebitda increased 14%, to 4.9 billion reais.

thumb|200x200px|Klabin's reforestation on the margins of Miranda Road, in Telemaco Borba.

thumb|200x200px|Klabin's reforestation in Telemaco Borba.

In February 2021 the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) sold on the stock exchange 21 million units of Klabin, which represented about 25% of its stake in the company's capital. The BNDES raised 598.1 million reais and still holds a 5.4% stake in Klabin's capital. In August 2021, Klabin started operating one of the machines (MP27) of the Puma Unit expansion project. The new line produces unbleached pulp integrated to the kraftliner and white kraftliner paper machine with a capacity of 450 thousand tons/year. The product was named Eukaliner, and is considered the world's first kraftliner paper produced from 100% eucalyptus fibers. The MP28 machine, on the other hand, should start operating in 2023, focused on the production of paperboard and with a production capacity of 460 thousand tons/year. The new operations consolidate Klabin as a major producer of packaging for liquid foods and processed foods, packaging for hygiene and cleaning products, and multipack packaging for cans and bottles, as well as packaging for the food service segment, such as cups and trays.

Enterprises and acknowledgment

Klabin Irmãos & Cia (KIC) is a family-owned holding company founded in 1899 by the Klabin and Lafer families of Jewish-Lithuanian origin, which controls the Klabin Group and owns Klabin S.A. (forestry, pulp, paper and converting), among other investments. The holding company originated in 1890 with the founding of M. F. Klabin & Irmão by Maurício Freeman Klabin. The company also appears in the ranking as one of the largest business groups in the country. Regarding the year 2015, the company had a turnover of 5.6 billion reais. In 2019, its Weighted Value of Grandeur (VPG) index was calculated at 7.43 billion reais. The city of Ortigueira, meanwhile, with most of the forest areas owned by Klabin, had, in 2018, an area of 93.8 thousand hectares dedicated to wood production, making it the seventh largest wood-producing municipality in Brazil.

In Paranaguá, also in Paraná, Klabin maintains the Unidade de Logística de Papel e Celulose, integrated with rail and road moulds, with a handling capacity of 1.5 million tons of pulp per year. With 24,000 m<sup>2</sup> of built area, the unit inaugurated in 2016 is entirely dedicated to the flow of short fiber pulp production for export.

Throughout its history, Klabin has been diversifying and changing its area of operation, including mining, energy production and distribution, transportation and logistics, research and innovation, technology production and development, environmental solutions and cultural activities.