(Yicai) March 25 -- Vinda International Holdings said that Singapore's Royal Golden Eagle, owned by Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, has bought an 83.5 percent stake in the major Chinese tissue maker and will later fully acquire and privatize it.

Isola Castle, a unit of RGE's Asia Pacific Resources International Limited, has purchased 1 billion shares of Vinda, the Jiangmen-based company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 22. The buyer must pay HKD26.1 billion (USD3.4 billion) to buy all 1.2 billion shares.

RGE will continue to advance Vinda's privatization process and is replacing Sweden's Essity as its actual controller, the Chinese firm noted, adding that it will delist after getting fully acquired.

Vinda also noted that after the deal, founder Li Chaowang stepped down as chairman and was succeeded by APRIL's Hu Wei.

Isola Castle offered to buy a 52 percent stake in Vinda from Essity and a 21 percent stake from Li for HKD23.50 (USD3) a share, the Chinese firm announced last December.

Shares of Vinda [HKG: 3331] were unchanged at HKD23.45 apiece as of 11.45 a.m. today.

APRIL is a world-leading integrated forest, pulp, and paper manufacturer, operating a pulp paper plant in Riau Province on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Vinda's net profit plunged 64 percent to HKD253 million (USD32.4 million) last year from a year earlier, with its income mainly coming from its tissue business, according to its latest financial report.

"During the year, while margin recovery is in progress, the group's gross profit and net profit were negatively impacted by inflationary pressures and intensified market competition compared to last year," Vinda said in the 2023 earnings report.

"Although raw material prices have decreased significantly, it still takes time to digest the inventory of raw materials purchased earlier, which to a certain extent had a negative impact on the profit margin," it added.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Martin Kadiev