According to Heslingin Sanomat, the Finnish and Swedish-owned Stora Enso, Sweden’s Holmen, and Norway’s Norske Skog are planning the partial or complete merger of their newsprint industries. No single company would have a majority holding in the new enterprise, as none of the manufacturers want to bear the full burden of the relatively unprofitable newsprint manufacturing business. The first task of the new company would be to shut down the most unprofitable installations, Helsingin Sanomat reports.A joint venture of Stora Enso, Holmen, and Norske Skog would form a concentration on the newsprint market in Europe. The arrangement requires permission from the competition authorities of the European Union. Large newspaper publishers are likely to oppose the plan, as it would lead to a rise in the price of newsprint. On the other hand, competition officials in Brussels are likely to understand that the production of newsprint cannot perpetually involve high production costs and low sales prices.On Thursday morning, trading in the shares of all three companies was suspended. Before the suspension was imposed the value of the Norske Skog stock had risen in Oslo by almost 20 percent. The Holmen A- and B-shares were up more than four and six percent respectively in early trading in Stockholm, and Stora Enso's share price had put on around 4.5 percent as investors responded to the rumours. In the early afternoon, Stora Enso issued a denial on its website, saying that there are "no discussions ongoing" concerning a possible newsprint joint venture between Stora Enso, Holmen, and Norske Skog. Holmen also announced that "no discussions are under way that correspond to the information published."Norske Skog, however, said that the company on several occasions has stated the need for restructuring of the newsprint industry, and that the company is willing to contribute to such an initiative. Norske Skog writes in a press release that the company does not wish to comment on speculations and rumors about strategic processes.