Valmet Oyj ("Valmet") and Neles Corporation ("Neles") announced that their respective Boards of Directors have signed a combination agreement (the "Combination Agreement") and a merger plan to combine the two companies through a merger (the "Combined Company"). It is proposed that the Board of Directors of the Combined Company will include six (6) directors from the current Board of Directors of Valmet (Mikael Mäkinen, Aaro Cantell, Pekka Kemppainen, Per Lindberg, Monika Maurer and Eriikka Söderström) and two (2) directors from the current Board of Directors of Neles (Jaakko Eskola and Anu Hämäläinen). It is proposed that the Combined Company's Chairman of the Board of Directors will be Mikael Mäkinen and that the Combined Company's Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors will be Jaakko Eskola.
Pasi Laine, currently President and CEO of Valmet, will continue to act as the President and CEO of the Combined Company after the completion of the merger and Kari Saarinen, the current CFO of Valmet would be appointed as the CFO.