West Coast Paper Mills opened today at Rs.289.80, up over 14% and then went on to hit an intra day high at Rs.297, rising 17%. The UC is at 20% at Rs.314.80.

The stock is up after the company announced that it is buying 51 to 60% stake on International Paper’s (IP) Indian unit, International Paper APPM Ltd. The deal is estimated to be worth around Rs.558 to 656 crore, in cash.

The stake will be acquired from existing promoters — International Paper Investments (Luxembourg), SARL Luxembourg and IP International Holdings Inc, US. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

West Coast will launch an open offer to acquire all of APPM’s shares held by the public, which amounts to 25% of APPM’s outstanding shares and these are expected to be at Rs.275/share.

Following the closure of this transaction, WCPM will be responsible for the operations of APPM and IP will be a passive investor till it sells its remaining shares.

IP APPM, incorporated on June 29, 1964, is into manufacturing and sale of pulp, paper and paper boards. It had ended FY19 with a turnover of Rs.1442 crore.

The market is not too happy for IP APPM as the stock price is in the red, currently down 3% at Rs.417 levels.