Klabin S.A.

What it is

Klabin is Brazil’s largest paper producer and exporter, focused on pulp, packaging paper and board, corrugated cardboard, and industrial sacks — as well as selling timber in logs. It operates 24 industrial plants, 23 in Brazil across ten states, and one in Argentina.

Its forest estate covers roughly 545,000 hectares across Paraná, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo — of which about 253,000 hectares are planted and more than 236,000 hectares are native areas kept for conservation. Growing your own trees is the foundation of the business: it controls the raw material, the mill, the box factory, and the customer relationship all in one chain.

Who owns it

Klabin Irmãos S.A. (KIC), the founding family’s holding company, absorbed its sister vehicle Niblak Participações and became the sole controlling shareholder, streamlining what had been a two-vehicle structure. KIC now holds 52.23% of the voting ordinary shares, giving the family decisive control over strategy and board appointments.

On the total share capital, KIC’s economic stake is 19.36%; institutional investors including BlackRock (5.87%) and Bank of New York Mellon (5.61%) hold the next largest disclosed positions, with the remainder — roughly 67% of total shares — in wider public hands. The family’s grip is therefore through voting rights, not economic weight; a structure common in Brazil’s founding dynasties.

Who runs it

Cristiano Cardoso Teixeira has been CEO since 2017. He has been named CEO of the Year in Latin America by the global pulp-and-paper industry publication Fastmarkets RISI in 2021, 2024, and 2025.

Gabriela Woge is the Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relations Officer; she brought over 20 years of corporate-finance experience from Votorantim, BRF, and Ultra, and formally took the CFO seat in January 2026. The board chair is Paulo Sérgio Coutinho Galvão Filho, with multiple Klabin and Lafer family members sitting as directors.

The money, in plain words

Klabin sold R$20.7 billion (~US$4.0 billion) of goods in FY2025, up 5.4% from FY2024 (our calculation). Full-year net revenue rose 14% in 2025, driven by sales volumes growing faster than the Brazilian market alongside an 11% lift in prices.

Of every real of those sales, it kept about 2.3 cents as net profit — a net profit margin of 2.3% (TTM, EODHD), compressed by heavy interest charges on its debt. For every real of equity shareholders own, the business earns about 5.5 cents a year — a return on equity of 5.5% (TTM), modest for an industrial leader.

The shares trade at 25.9 times trailing earnings — not cheap for a capital-heavy company — but the dividend yield of 9.6% makes them attractive as an income position.

The balance sheet is the key tension. Net debt stands at R$29.8 billion (~US$5.8 billion, our calculation), against cash of R$10.1 billion (US$2.0 bn) and gross borrowings of R$39.9 billion (US$7.7 bn).

As of the first quarter of 2026, net debt was R$24 billion (US$4.7 bn) and the leverage ratio — net debt measured against operating earnings in dollars — stood at 3.3 times, down 0.6 times from a year earlier. The direction is right, but the load remains significant.

What it is doing now

In the first quarter of 2026 Klabin delivered 12% year-on-year growth in sales volume and 2% revenue growth, led by strong shipments of fluff pulp, kraftliner exports to Asia, and resilient corrugated-box demand. Kraftliner exports to Asia grew nearly eightfold as US producers pulled back from that market.

The company declared R$1.1 billion (~US$214 million) in interim dividends for 2026, payable in four quarterly instalments, alongside a capital increase via R$0.8 billion (US$155 mn) in bonus shares equal to 1% of the share base. Management reaffirmed plans to reduce debt and cut capital expenditure from 2027, aiming for higher free cash flow and stable dividends.

What to watch

• Leverage trajectory. Management’s credibility rests on the promised deleveraging path from 2027; any slip in pulp prices or the Brazilian real could slow that.
• Global pulp prices. Klabin sells into a commodity market; the price it receives for pulp and kraftliner moves its margins sharply quarter to quarter.
• New CFO execution. Gabriela Woge took the finance chair only in January 2026; how she handles the debt calendar and investor communication is worth tracking.
• Family governance. With KIC as sole controller after absorbing Niblak, decisions are faster — but minority investors should watch any related-party transactions closely.
• Sustainability credentials. All four business units are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and Klabin’s inclusion for the sixth consecutive year in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Sustainability Indices matters to ESG-driven capital allocators.

This is news, not investment advice.