The Welsh Government is providing £6 million to support WEPA UK’s expansion plans, which will see 54 new jobs created and hundreds protected at its site in Maesteg.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said the funding from Welsh Government’s Economy Futures Fund will be crucial in seeing the firm’s site developed into a fully integrated papermill, doubling production:

“WEPA is a vitally important employer in the region, and the £6 million Welsh Government is investing will be crucial in supporting the local economy at what continues to be an incredibly difficult time. I am delighted that our investment will help the business create good-quality jobs as the volume and variety of products produced by the business increases.”

A new paper machine will enable the company, which is one of the leading suppliers of household paper in the UK, to produce an additional 65,000 tons a year of toilet paper and kitchen towels for the British market.

Tony Curtis, joint managing director of WEPA UK Ltd, said:

“WEPA UK Ltd has worked with Welsh Government on this major project since the concept was first considered and we are grateful for the continuous support we have received. During such unprecedented times as these, this is a fantastic development for our UK business, particularly for the local community in which we operate, our UK-wide customers and our employees who can now plan for the future with increased confidence. This investment provides state of the art additional production capacity with an important quality upgrade to our product offering; it will also drive our site operations to the leading edge of sustainability in our industry.”

The project will safeguard more than 270 jobs at the Bridgend site and ix expected to create over 50 additional roles.

Martin Krengel, CEO of the WEPA Group:

“Our willingness to invest in state-of-the-art technology is an important part of our future-oriented Group strategy. UK remains an important growth market for us in Europe despite COVID-19 and Brexit. With the planned investments we will be able to meet our customers’ expectations in terms of product quality and sustainability even better in the future. It is important to us to produce for our customers in the UK in their own country. For the Bridgend site this means a doubling of production capacity.”

Headquartered in Germany, the WEPA Group employs approximately 4,000 people and is the third largest manufacturer of hygiene paper in Europe.