Scandinavian Paper Firm to Buy Consolidated

Finnish-Swedish forest products company Stora Enso is buying Consolidated Papers Inc. for about $4 billion. The deal would create a major paper producer with about $12.4 billion in revenue and 47,000 employees. Stora Enso is offering $44 a share for Consolidated, half in cash and half in stock, and will assume about $900 million in Consolidated debt. Shares of Consolidated, based in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., climbed $10 to close at $36 on the New York Stock Exchange.