FORM
6-K
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Report
of
Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant
to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
under
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For
the
month of May, 2007
Commission
file number: 1-14872
SAPPI
LIMITED
(Translation
of registrant’s name into English)
48
Ameshoff Street
Braamfontein
Johannesburg
2001
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
|
Form
20-F
|
X
------- |
Form
40-F
|
Indicate
by check mark if the
registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T
Rule 101(b) (1):
Indicate
by check mark if the
registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T
Rule 101(b) (7):
Indicate
by check mark whether by
furnishing the information contained in this Form, the registrant is also
thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b)
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
|
Yes
|
No
|
X
------- |
If
“Yes”
is
marked, indicate below the
file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b):
82-
INCORPORATION
BY REFERENCE
Sappi
Limited’s SENS Announcement, dated May 14, 2007, announcing the appointment of a
new Chief Executive Officer, Roeloff Jacobus (Ralph) Boëttger, furnished by the
Registrant under this Form 6-K is incorporated by reference into (i) the
Registration Statements on Form S-8 of the Registrant filed December 23, 1999
and December 15, 2004 in connection with The Sappi Limited Share Incentive
Scheme, (ii) the Section 10(a) Prospectus relating to the offer and sale of
the Registrant’s shares to Participants under The Sappi Limited Share Incentive
Scheme, (iii) the Registration Statements on Form S-8 of the Registrant
filed December 15, 2004 and December 21, 2005 in connection with The Sappi
Limited 2004 Performance Share Incentive Plan and (iv) the Section 10(a)
Prospectus relating to the offer and sale of the Registrant’s shares to
Participants under The Sappi Limited 2004 Performance Share Incentive
Plan.
FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
In
order
to utilize the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”), Sappi Limited (the “Company”)
is providing the following cautionary statement. Except for historical
information contained herein, statements contained in this Report on Form 6-K
may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Reform
Act. The words “believe”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate “, “plan”,
“assume”, “positioned”, “will”, “may”, “should”, “risk” and other similar
expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends
which do not relate to historical matters identify forward-looking statements.
In addition, this Report on Form 6-K may include forward-looking statements
relating to the Company’s potential exposure to various types of market risks,
such as interest rate risk, foreign exchange rate risk and commodity price
risk.
Reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are in some
cases
beyond the control of the Company, together with its subsidiaries (the “Group”),
and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Group
to
differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements (and from past results,
performance or achievements). Certain factors that may cause such differences
include but are not limited to: the highly cyclical nature of the pulp and
paper
industry; pulp and paper production, production capacity, input costs including
raw material, energy and employee costs, and pricing levels in North America,
Europe, Asia and southern Africa; any major disruption in production at the
Group’s key facilities; changes in environmental, tax and other laws and
regulations; adverse changes in the markets for the Group’s products; any
delays, unexpected costs or other problems experienced with any business
acquired or to be acquired; consequences of the Group’s leverage; adverse
changes in the South African political situation and economy or the effect
of
governmental efforts to address present or future economic or social problems;
and the impact of future investments, acquisitions and dispositions (including
the financing of investments and acquisitions) and any delays, unexpected costs
or other problems experienced in connection with dispositions. These and other
risks, uncertainties and factors are discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on
Form 20-F and other filings with and submissions to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including
this Report on Form 6-K. Shareholders and prospective investors are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are made as of the date of the submission of this
Report on Form 6-K and are not intended to give any assurance as to future
results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise
any
of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information or
future events or circumstances or otherwise.
 |
Sappi
Limited
|
SENS
Announcement
Johannesburg,
14
May 2007
Sappi
appoints new Chief Executive Officer
Sappi
Limited
announced today that Roeloff Jacobus (Ralph) Boëttger (45), currently an
executive director of Imperial Holdings Limited, will join Sappi on the 1st of July
this year
as chief executive officer.
Ralph
Boëttger is a
chartered accountant by training with a wide general management experience.
At
the age of 34 he was appointed chief executive officer of Safair and the
next
year appointed to the executive committee of SAFREN Limited. Since 1998 he
has
been with Imperial Holdings when Imperial acquired Safair and since 2002
he has
been an executive director of Imperial Holdings with responsibility for their
local and international logistics operations, the aviation division and the
heavy commercial vehicle distribution operations. His field of responsibility
encompassed businesses operating in Southern Africa, numerous European
countries, the Middle East and Asia. He is well versed in managing an operation
with diverse cultures. Ralph Boëttger is a South African citizen and
lives in Johannesburg.
Sappi
said today
that Ralph Boëttger will join the company on the 1st of July
and after
a short familiarization period he will assume executive responsibility of
the
Sappi group. At that time Sappi chairman Eugene van As, who has been
acting as chief executive for the past 13 months, will revert to a non-executive
role.
Sappi
also
announced today that Eugene van As would retire from the board of Sappi Limited
at the annual general meeting in March 2008. The process of electing
a new chairman will start soon.
In
an interview
today Ralph Boëttger said that he was very excited about joining Sappi Limited,
"I was attracted by the group's global footprint, its strong history of success
and the tremendous upside potential that the business has to grow stakeholder
wealth as well as opportunities for the people in the group. I look forward
to
working with the Sappi team".
Sappi
chairman
Eugene van As said today “The board was delighted that Ralph Boëttger has agreed
to join Sappi. He is an energetic, hands-on executive with a passion for
business and an impeccable track record. I know he will get
unqualified support from the Sappi team and will get the best out of all
of
them".
End
Note
to the
Editors:
Biographical
information
Roeloff
Jacobus (Ralph) Boëttger
Born
on 18 May
1961, Roeloff Jacobus (Ralph) Boëttger, a South African citizen, was educated at
Potchefstroom University (now the University of the North West), where he
completed B.Acc and B.Acc (Hons) degrees before qualifying as a Chartered
Accountant in 1989.
He
joined Safair in
1991 as Financial Manager before being appointed CEO of Safair in 1996. He
was
appointed to the Executive Committees of Safmarine Limited (1996) and SAFREN
Limited (1997). He continued as CEO of Safair after the company was acquired
by
the Imperial Group in 1998.
In
2001 he was
appointed to the executive committee of Imperial Holdings with executive
responsibilities for the local and international logistics operations, the
aviation division and the heavy commercial vehicle distribution operations.
He
was appointed to the Board of Imperial Holdings in 2002.
He
is married to
Ronel, and they have a young son.
His
interests
include flying and game watching.
CAREER
SUMMARY
|
1986
-
1989
|
KPMG
–
Aiken
& Peat – Articled Clerk.
|
|
|
1989
-
1991
|
Financial
Manager of Jacksons Metals (Macsteel Group)
|
|
|
1991
-
1994
|
Financial
Manager of Safair
|
|
|
1994
-
1996
|
General
Manager Aircraft Charters and Leasing of Safair
|
|
|
1996-1998
|
CEO
of
Safair
|
|
|
1996
|
Appointed
to
Executive Committee of Safmarine Limited
|
|
|
1997
|
Appointed
to
Executive Committee of SAFREN Limited
|
|
|
1998-present
|
Imperial
Holdings
|
|
|
1998-2001
|
CEO
of
Safair
|
|
|
2001-present
|
Appointed
to
executive committee of Imperial Holdings as Executive Director
responsible
for:
|
|
|
Aviation
division
|
||
|
Logistics
division
|
||
|
Tyco
Trucks
|
||
|
Lectrolite
|
||
|
Imperial
Commercials - UK
|
||
|
2002
|
Appointed
to
the Board of Imperial
Holdings
|
For
more
information on Sappi visit www.sappi.com
More
about
Sappi
Sappi
is the
world's leading producer of coated fine paper, and whilst this business
represents approximately two-thirds of Sappi's total sales, the company also
has
significant businesses in pulp, coated speciality paper, packaging grades
and
uncoated fine paper. Sappi Forest Products, the forests, pulp, packaging
and
newsprint business based in South Africa, is also the world's largest producer
of chemical cellulose (dissolving pulp). Sappi is a global company with
over 15,000 employees and production facilities on four continents, in nine
countries and customers in over 100 countries.
The
group is
headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sappi is listed on JSE Limited
(SAP), the New York Stock Exchange (SPP) and the London Stock Exchange
(SAZ).
ENDS
Issued
by:
Brunswick
South
Africa on behalf of Sappi Limited
Tel
+ 27 (0)11 268
5750
Fax
+ 27 (0)11 268
5747
For
further
information
André
Oberholzer
Group
Head
Corporate Affairs
Sappi
Limited
Tel
+27 11 407
8044
Fax
+27 11 403
8236
Andre.Oberholzer@sappi.com
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant
has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized.
Date: May
15, 2007
| SAPPI LIMITED, | |||
|
|
By:
|
/s/ D.J. O’Connor | |
| Name: D.J. O’Connor | |||
| Title: Group Secretary | |||