M-real Corporation Stock Exchange Bulletin 7.3.2005 at 12.00 a.m.

M-REAL TO
PARTICIPATE IN BOTNIA’S PULP MILL INVESTMENT IN URUGUAY

Botnia, the resource
company jointly owned by M-real, UPM-Kymmene and
Metsäliitto, has today
decided to invest in a new pulp mill in
Uruguay. The mill’s planned annual
capacity is about a million tonnes
of short-fibre pulp, and it will use
cultivated eucalyptus as raw
material. The total capital expenditure is about
USD 1.1 billion and
the mill is estimated to come on stream during the third
quarter of
2007. Botnia has an 82.1% holding in Botnia S.A., which will
carry
out the project. The other owners of Botnia S.A. are UPM-Kymmene
with
12.4% and Metsäliitto with 5.5%.

M-real sells an 8% holding in Botnia
to Metsäliitto for a purchase
price of EUR 164 million. After the transaction,
the shareholdings in
Botnia will be: M-real 39%, Metsäliitto 14% and
UMP-Kymmene 47%,
making M-real´s holding in the Uruguay pulp investment 32%.
As a
result of the transaction M-real´s equity ratio will strengthen
with
approximately 2 percentage units and gearing ratio will decrease
with
approximately 9 percentage units. The sale of shares will result in
a
capital gain of about EUR 80 million.

The lowered shareholding in Botnia
will not bring a net weakening in
M-real’s pulp balance due to i.e. the
growing BCTMP-capacity. The
current estimation is that once the Uruguay pulp
mill has come on
stream, M-real will use at its own paper mills a volume of
eucalyptus
pulp corresponding to its entire 32% stake.

In connection with
the pulp mill investment decision, Botnia's
owners, UPM, M-real and
Metsäliitto have agreed upon a supplement to
the shareholder agreement in
order to ensure the stability of
Botnia's ownership base. According to the
agreement, Botnia's
shareholders will offer their shares to other shareholders
in case of
a possible change in their share or vote majority. A
potential
decrease of Metsäliitto´s voting rights in M-real below 50 per
cent
will not, however, result an obligation for M-real to offer its
Botnia´s
shares.

“For M-real, the Uruguay project is an excellent opportunity
to
participate in one of the world’s most efficient pulp mills in terms
of
its production costs. Furthermore, the mill´s supply of raw
materials is on a
solid basis as a result of years of determined
work. The lowering of the
shareholding in Botnia will afford M-real
the financial resources to
participate in the Uruguay project without
incurring a significant weakening
in its principal key figures while
the mill is under construction, President
and CEO Hannu Anttila
comments.

M-REAL CORPORATION


Corporate
Communications

For additional information, contact President and CEO Hannu
Anttila,
tel. +358 10 469 4343 or Executive Vice President and CFO
Juhani
Pöhö, tel. +358 10 469 5283


Invitation to a news
conference

Welcome to a news conference regarding Botnia's pulp mill project
in
Uruguay. The event will be held at the auditorium of Restaurant
Bank,
Unioninkatu 22 in Helsinki today on 7 March, 2005 at 1:30 p.m.
(Finnish
time). Mr Erkki Varis, President and CEO of Botnia, Mr Timo
Piilonen, Project
Director, Botnia as well as Mr Jussi Pesonen,
President and CEO of UPM and Mr
Hannu Anttila, President and CEO of M-
real will present the project.

The
news conference is for both the media and financial analysts. It
is held in
Finnish.