Hansol Paper Co., a South Korean paper maker, said Friday that its wholly-owned investment unit Hansol Denmark ApS has bought a 97.5 percent stake in a Danish thermal paper retailer for 41.9 billion won (US$38.7 million) to obtain new growth engines.

The stake purchase in the Danish company, Schades Holdings A/S, is aimed at securing its sales channel in the world's biggest European thermal paper market, which takes up 32 percent of the whole global demand, Hansol Paper said in a regulatory filing.

Hansol Paper also said it had already been operating the production line of the highly profitable thermal paper.

The thermal paper is a special fine paper coated with a chemical that changes color when exposed to heat. It is used in the thermal printers of adding machines, cash registers, and credit card terminals.

Schades Holdings, which was established in 1874, has its 12 subsidiaries in seven European countries including France, Germany and Britain. (Yonhap News)