Updates throughout with details and background

Feb 28 (Reuters) - International Paper IP.N said on Friday that Lance Loeffler would be its chief financial officer, replacing Tim Nicholls, who will head the company's newly acquired DS Smith.

Loeffler's 25-year career includes finance and business leadership roles at UBS UBSG.S, Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE and Halliburton HAL.N.

He was Halliburton's CFO for four years and most recently was senior vice president of the Middle East and North Africa region. He left in December, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Nicholls, International Paper's CFO since 2018, will now be executive vice president and president of DS Smith, which the company acquired for about $7.20 billion last month.

International Paper has been streamlining its U.S. operations as higher prices hit sales volumes. Earlier this month, it said it would close four plants and lay off about 1% of its global workforce, affecting 674 employees.

The company did not say when the executives would take charge in their new roles.

(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

((RajveerSingh.Pardesi@thomsonreuters.com;))