This is Kimberly-Clark's second major investment in Taiwan in the last six months. In June, the company acquired the majority of shares in S-K Corporation, Kimberly-Clark's former licensee in Taiwan.
Paul Geisler, Kimberly-Clark Asia-Pacific Group President, said: "Goldsun has been a supportive partner in Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation for 17 years. Their decision to sell their shares was made earlier this year in order to focus on their core businesses. The transaction will provide Kimberly-Clark with 100 percent ownership of Taiwan Scott as we move towards merging it with S-K Corporation in mid-2001.
"We are delighted to increase our investment in Taiwan Scott," Mr. Geisler said. "Scott ('Sujay') bathroom tissue is the market leader in Taiwan, and the company has an outstanding management team which, under the leadership of Meiling Chiang, President, is achieving solid top-line growth, with net sales for the first nine months of this year up more than 20 percent from the same period a year earlier. We are now ideally positioned as one of the largest manufacturers of consumer packaged goods in Taiwan's affluent market."
S-K Corporation holds trademark and distribution rights in Taiwan for such Kimberly-Clark global brands as Kleenex®, Huggies® and Kotex®. An application to merge S-K Corporation and Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation was approved in October 2000 by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission. Sales of the combined companies in Taiwan are expected to exceed US$250 million in 2001.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a leading consumer products company. Its global tissue, personal care and health care brands include Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex, Scott, Kimberly-Clark, Safeskin, Tecnol, Kimwipes and WypAll. Other brands well known outside the U.S. include Andrex, Scottex, Page, Popee and Kimbies. Kimberly-Clark also is a major producer of premium business, correspondence and technical papers. The company has manufacturing operations in 40 countries and sells its products in more than 150 countries.
Certain matters contained in this news release concerning the business outlook, including new product introductions, cost savings and acquisitions, anticipated financial and operating results, strategies, contingencies and transactions of the company constitute forward-looking statements and are based upon management's expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the company. There can be no assurance that these future events will occur as anticipated or that the company's results will be as estimated. For a description of certain factors that could cause the company's future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements, see the section of Part I, Item 1 of the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 entitled "Factors That May Affect Future Results."