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Kimberly-Clark is spinning off Kleenex and other products in its tissue unit outside the US into a $3bn joint venture and selling a majority stake to Brazilian pulp manufacturer Suzano.
The São Paulo-listed group, which is the world’s largest pulp producer, said it would pay $1.7bn for a 51 per cent stake in the unit, which will also make products such as Andrex toilet paper, napkins and paper towels across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Oceania.
Kimberly-Clark, the supplier of paper-based consumer staples, will receive a cash infusion as it restructures to cut costs and expand its US manufacturing capacity. For Suzano, the deal gives it an international platform to expand further into products that use its pulp output.
“This transaction represents a powerful step forward in Kimberly-Clark’s transformation journey,” said Mike Hsu, chair and chief executive of the $46bn-valued company.
Assets going into the new venture generated about $500mn of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2024 on $3.3bn of net sales, according to the companies.
With an enterprise value of $3.4bn, it will have factories in 14 countries and 9,000 employees. Texas-based Kimberly-Clark will retain its US tissue businesses, as well as stakes in existing joing ventures in Mexico, South Korea and Bahrain.
Suzano chief executive Beto Abreu told the Financial Times the investment was its first major global move, following recent smaller deals in the US and Austria.
The company was looking to add manufacturing assets that integrate with its production of pulp, he added. It makes the raw material for paper from farmed eucalyptus wood.
“KC has been a very important customer for Suzano for decades so we know each other well,” said Abreu. “We’re joining forces with one of the global leaders in consumer goods, mainly in the tissue markets, which is one of the main products we supply our pulp to globally.”
The transaction includes an option for Suzano to acquire Kimberly-Clark’s remaining 49 per cent share of the venture. Conclusion of the deal is subject to regulatory approval and expected in about a year.
Suzano, which is controlled by the billionaire Feffer family, a multigenerational dynasty that is one of Brazil’s richest, previously purchased Kimberly-Clark’s Brazilian tissue business in 2023.
Suzano’s shares are down one-fifth in 2025, giving it a market capitalisation of $11.1bn. Kimberly-Clark’s stock has risen 3.7 per cent this year.
