Valmet has 200 years of industrial history
The history of Valmet Corporation goes all the way back to the 1750s. It was then that a small shipyard was established in the Viapori fortress on the islands outside Helsinki. In the early 20th century it ended up under the ownership of the Finnish state and became part of Valmet. Tamfelt was established in 1797 and became one of the leading suppliers of technical textiles. These operations are now part of Valmet’s Services business line.

Several of the companies forming part of the new Valmet Corporation date back to the 19th century. The Karlstad Mekaniska Werkstad (KMW) in Sweden began in 1865. Beloit Corporation began in 1858 as a foundry in Wisconsin, US, in the city of Beloit. Sunds Bruk, the predecessor of Sunds Defibrator Industries Ab, was established in Sweden in 1868.

In 1946, several metal workshops owned by the Finnish state were merged to form the Valtion Metallitehtaat (the State Metal Works). At the beginning of 1951, the Valtion Metallitehtaat group was renamed Valmet Oy, and the product range expanded over the years to include ships, aircraft, weapons, locomotives, tractors, marine engines, elevators and, of course, paper machines.

Valmet began the manufacturing of paper machines at the former Rautpohja artillery works in Jyväskylä, Finland in the early 1950s and delivered its first paper machine in 1953. Valmet became an internationally significant paper machine supplier in the mid-1960s, when it delivered several machines to the world’s leading paper industry countries.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Valmet focused increasingly on paper technology. Valmet sold its shipbuilding industry, and the manufacture of rolling stock, elevators and tractors. In turn, Valmet bought Wärtsilä`s paper finishing machinery unit, the Swedish company Karlstads Mekaniska Werkstad (KMW) and the board machine manufacturer Tampella Papertech.

1999 - Merger of Valmet and Rauma to form Metso
Metso Corporation was created as a result of the merger of Valmet Corporation and Rauma Corporation (“Rauma”) in July 1999. At the time Valmet was a paper and board machine supplier, while Rauma’s operations were focused on fiber technology, rock crushing and flow control solutions. The merger produced an equipment supplier serving the global process industry. The new combined company was initially given the name Valmet-Rauma Corporation. The name was changed to Metso Corporation in August 1999. Shares in Metso were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, which replaced the listings of its predecessor companies.

2000-2009 - Important mergers and acquisitions in pulp, paper and power businesses
In 2000, Valmet (at the time part of Metso) acquired Beloit Corporation’s tissue and paper making technology as well as its service operations in the United States and France.

In December 2006, Valmet completed the acquisition of the Pulping and Power businesses from Aker Kvaerner ASA of Norway. This was done in order to improve the company’s capabilities as a full-scope supplier to the pulp and paper industry and also to respond to the promising business opportunities in the power industry and biomass technology.

At the end of 2009, Valmet acquired Tamfelt Corporation, one of the world’s leading suppliers of technical textiles.

2013 - Demerger of Metso to Valmet and Metso
Metso Corporation’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on October 1, 2013, approved the Board of Directors’ proposed plan for a partial demerger and decided to demerge Metso into two companies: Valmet and Metso. On December 31, 2013 Metso’s Pulp, Paper and Power business was transferred to the new company, Valmet Corporation, and the Mining and Construction and Automation business remained part of Metso.

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