The owners of the oldest paper mill in France sabotaged millions of euros worth of equipment before it could be sold at auction, it has emerged.

The mill, in Docelles, Voges, closed in 2014 with the loss of about 160 jobs, some 562 years after paper was first produced on the site.

UPM, the Finnish owners of the factory, one of the oldest in Europe, ordered the machines to be damaged beyond use this summer, they said, to reduce overcapacity in the market.

A new paper rolling machine can be worth up to €100million, trade publication L'Usine Nouvelle reports. But, the ones inside the plant could only be sold for parts. The auctioneer said that each one would be worth between €1million and €2million. A total 200 lots made up the auction.

A planned buyout of the plant by former employees in 2014 failed, amid allegations the owners priced the factory out of their reach.

The mayor of the small town told local broadcaster France 3 that he hoped a new owner for the factory could be found - although he accepted that more than half-a-millennium of paper-making in the town was over.