Commensurate with the recent divestiture of the company’s Engineered Papers business, Mativ announced organizational realignment initiatives that will streamline organizational size and complexity, and leverage business-critical resources to enhance customer support. As a result of these initiatives, the company expects to achieve an annualized run-rate of $20 million of overhead cost reduction in 2024 and an additional $20 million by the end of 2026, effectively reducing overhead costs by approximately 15% over that timeframe.

The first wave of this initiative is primarily driven by workforce reductions and indexed toward senior levels of the organization. The second wave of savings will be unlocked by system integrations, further restructuring and transactional efficiencies. The 2024 charges associated with these initiatives are estimated to be $15-$20 million, which are expected to be incurred predominantly in the first half of 2024.

As part of the realignment, the company will reorganize into two new segments starting in Q1 2024: Filtration & Advanced Materials, focused primarily on filtration and protective solutions end markets, and Sustainable & Adhesive Solutions, focused primarily on release liners, industrials, healthcare and packaging and specialty papers end markets. Christoph Stenzel, Filtration president, has been promoted to group president, Filtration & Advanced Materials, and Ryan Elwart will join Mativ as group president, Sustainable & Adhesive Solutions, effective as of January 30, 2024. Elwart joins Mativ from Georgia-Pacific, where he spent the last 16 years in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as chief customer officer of Georgia-Pacific’s Consumer Products division.

“The two consolidated segments, in addition to reducing organizational complexity and enabling substantial cost savings, will allow us to better support our customers through increased cross-selling opportunities, shared technologies and leveraging selling, marketing and R&D expertise,” says Julie Schertell, president and chief executive officer of Mativ. “I am very pleased to promote Christoph and welcome Ryan to the Mativ team. These appointments are paramount to the growth of our business and perfectly complement our leadership team.”

“We are continuing to aggressively drive our portfolio toward higher growth and higher margins,” Schertell continues. “This started with the merger in mid-2022, followed by the divestiture of Engineered Papers in late 2023. Now is the right time to resize our non-operating costs, and while this is never an easy task, it is important for our future. The savings are substantial and support our target to deliver mid-teen EBITDA margins, increased cash flow, and our continued focus on deleveraging.”