Kymi

The operations of the Kymi mills began in February 1872 under the leadership of Axel Wilhelm Wahren from Forssa, one of the most modern industrial entrepreneurs of his time, with the establishment of Kymmene Aktiebolag and the construction of a groundwood and paper mill by the Kuusankoski rapids. In January of the same year, Count Carl Robert Mannerheim, the owner of Louhisaari Manor, together with more than 30 other shareholders, founded Kuusankoski Aktiebolag. More than twenty years later, under the leadership of Rudolf Elving, Tampereen Kattohuopatehdas Oy built a groundwood and paper mill by the Voikkaa rapids on the Kymi River.

In 1904, Kymmene, Kuusankoski and Voikkaa merged, creating one of the world's largest forest industry companies: Kymmene Aktiebolag – Kymi Ltd. The company's expansion outside Kuusankoski began in the 1910s. In 1922, the company acquired Oy Kissakoski Ab and, with it, the Verla groundwood and board mill with its forests.