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A trio of law firms have been called in for the sale of a majority stake in Kimberly-Clark’s international tissue business to Brazil’s Suzano.
Kirkland & Ellis and Baker McKenzie are guiding Texas-based Kleenex tissue-maker Kimberly-Clark on the deal while Freshfields is acting for Suzano, which is the world’s largest pulp producer.
The deal is structured as a strategic partnership and will see the creation of a new $3.4bn joint venture in which Kimberly-Clark will hold a 49% stake, while Suzano will pay about $1.7bn in cash for the 51% stake.
The Kirkland team is led by Kim Hicks, a founding partner of the firm’s Austin office, alongside fellow M&A partners Edward Lee, Steven Choi and Emily Lichtenheld.
Meanwhile Baker McKenzie’s team is headed by M&A partner Olivia Tyrrell, who works out of Chicago. The team also includes employment and benefits partners Elizabeth Ebersole and Adeola Olowude, tax partner Brendan Kelly and real estate partner Sarah Winston.
Freshfields’ work for Suzano on the deal follows it advising the São Paulo-based company on the merger control aspects of its $11bn acquisition of rival Brazilian pulp manufacturer Fibria Celulose in 2018. Last year the firm also acted for Suzano when it bought a stake in Lenzing, a global supplier of cellusose fibres to the textile industry.
Suzano chief executive Beto Abreu told the Financial Times the company was looking to acquire manufacturing assets that integrate with the pulp that it produces.
“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,” Abreu told the publication.
For Kimberly-Clark the deal comes as the company restructures to cut costs and focus on more profitable parts of the business like its North America tissue segment.
The company will contribute assets of its international family care and professional business (IFP) to the new venture, including sales in more than 70 countries, 22 manufacturing facilities and roughly 9,000 employees.
IFP’s more than 40 regional brands will be owned by the new entity and its five global brands, among them Scott, Kleenex and Viva, will be licensed to the venture by Kimberly-Clark under a long-term agreement, the company said.
The Financial Times reported assets going into the new venture generated around $500m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2024 on $3.3bn of net sales.
Kimberly-Clark said its interests in Mexico and its joint venture in South Korea were not included in the deal. The business will also retain its consumer tissue and professional businesses in the US.
As part of the deal Suzano will have the chance to acquire Kimberly-Clark’s remaining 49% stake in the JV. The deal is expected to close in mid-2026.
Centerview Partners and Goldman Sachs are serving as financial advisors to Kimberly-Clark on the deal.
Reuters reported Suzano had been in talks to buy International Paper, one of the biggest pulp and paper makers in the world, last year but the two parties couldn’t reach a deal due to the lack of a price agreement.
Last year, International Paper called in longtime counsel Skadden to advise it on the £5.8bn acquisition of FTSE 100 UK packaging firm DS Smith, which was repped by Slaughter and May. The deal saw International Paper beat an earlier £5.1bn offer put forward by Linklaters-repped UK rival Mondi.
Worldwide announced-M&A totalled $1.5trn during the first five months of 2025 according to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), a 20% increase compared to the same period in 2024 and a three-year high.
Twenty-six deals worth $10bn or more were announced globally during the first five months of this year, beating all previous January to May totals since LSEG’s records began in the 1970s. Six of these were announced in May, including Charter Communications’ $34.5bn planned acquisition of Cox Communications, the largest M&A deal announced yet this year. Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz is counselling Charter on the deal, while Latham & Watkins is acting for Cox.
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