Mondi alerted the Directorate-General for Competition about the planned acquisition on Feb. 19, according to the European Commission's website.
The commission set a provisional March 26 deadline to decide whether or not to open an in-depth investigation.
Mondi said last October it had agreed to buy Schumacher's operations in Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands in a deal expected to boost the FTSE 100 company's footprint in western Europe.
Earnings update:
Mondi PLC on Thursday noted "improving order books" across its packaging business in 2025, as the firm reported a slight increase in revenue for 2024.
The Weybridge, England-based packaging firm reported a 1.2% increase in revenue for 2024 to EUR7.42 billion from EUR7.33 billion in 2023, owing to higher sales volumes despite lower average selling prices.
The firm said that trading conditions throughout the year were challenging, as they were characterised by a softness in demand and a suboptimal pricing environment.
Despite the uptick in revenue, the firm said its pretax profit fell 45% to EUR378 million from EUR682 million, as Mondi reported a EUR7 million fair value gain in forestry compared to a EUR128 million gain the prior year.
The firm recommended a total ordinary dividend in line with last year at 70.0 euro cents per share.
Shares in Mondi rose 1.8% to 1,298.00 pence on Thursday morning in London. In Johannesburg, its shares were up 1.9% at ZAR300.30 in the early afternoon.
Looking to 2025, the firm noted that "significant macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties remain", but said it was seeing improving order books across its packaging business.
It added that it is implementing price increases across its range of packaging paper grades.
Mondi also noted that its acquisition of packaging assets from Schumacher Packaging GmbH for EUR634 million is on track to complete in the first half of 2025.
Under the deal announced in October last year, Mondi will buy the German, Benelux and UK corrugated converting and solid board operations of Schumacher Packaging.
Benelux refers to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Chief Executive Andrew King commented: "Mondi demonstrated resilience through the year in the face of ongoing difficult trading conditions, characterised by soft demand and a challenging pricing environment. This resilience highlights the strength of our cost-competitive, strategically located integrated assets and our great people".
"The demand for sustainable products is providing many opportunities for Mondi and is a key driver of our growth. Our investments over the last few years, enhancing our unique packaging and paper platform and product offering for our customers, will support this growth."
