Hundreds of Aberdeen jobs may be saved after administrators chose a preferred bidder for the last remaining paper mill in the city.
If a deal is struck, it will rescue ArjoWiggins Fine Papers’ operations at Stoneywood, in Aberdeen, and Basingstoke, in Hampshire, along with a business in Chartham, Kent.
The identity of preferred bidder has not been disclosed.
A spokesman for the administrators, FRP Advisory, said: “The proposed deal is for the sale of the assets of the business as a going concern, and the retention of all remaining staff.
“Subject to the satisfactory conclusion of due diligence, it is hoped that the deal will conclude around the middle of April.”
A successful outcome would save 482 jobs at Stoneywood, 28 in Basingstoke and 86 at Chartham.
The Stoneywood mill was due to be bought by Dutch company Fineska last year.
But the sale fell through just days after Christmas as a result of “deteriorating market conditions”.
Owner Sequana then put its UK businesses into administration.
Arjowiggins Fine Papers, which has produced fine and custom-made papers from the Stoneywood Mill in Aberdeen since 1770, appointed Iain Fraser, Tom MacLennan and Geoff Rowley, partners at FRP Advisory, as joint administrators.
On their appointment, they said the business had been severely affected by rising costs and difficult trading conditions.
