EANS-News: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG EU Commission approves joint venture between
AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH
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Joint Ventures/Cooperation/Collaboration
Wien (euro adhoc) - The EU Commission today granted AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
(AGRANA) and RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG (RWA) the green light for the merger
of their fruit juice concentrates subsidiaries AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and
Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH to form a joint venture. This decision forms the
anti-trust prerequisite for concluding the transaction. The closing is planned
for early June 2012.
The newly founded joint venture, YBBSTALER AGRANA JUICE GmbH, will have its head
offices in Kröllendorf|Lower Austria and will have 14 production sites, located
in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Ukraine and China.
Besides fruit juice concentrates, the joint venture will also produce fruit
purees and natural flavourings as well as direct juices for use by the beverages
industry. Annual sales revenues will be around EUR350m and fully consolidated by
AGRANA.
"The merger of these companies is an important step to consolidate our position
in the fruit juice concentrate market," says Johann Marihart, CEO of AGRANA.
"The joint venture is a win-win constellation for Ybbstaler and AGRANA Juice,
and aims to further increase our competitiveness in increasingly global fruit
juice concentrate markets," adds Klaus Buchleitner, CEO of RWA Raiffeisen Ware
Austria AG.
AGRANA, the refiner of agricultural raw materials in the areas of sugar, starch
and fruit, is the leading sugar company in Central and Eastern Europe and a top
producer of special starch products in Europe. In the fruit segment, AGRANA is
the top global producer of fruit preparations for the dairy industry and one of
the leading producers of fruit juice concentrates in Europe. With approximately
8,000 personnel at 53 production facilities in 26 countries, AGRANA generates
global revenues of over EUR2bn.
RWA, the wholesaler and service provider of the Raiffeisen Lagerhaus (Raiffeisen
warehouses) in Austria, provides a wide range of goods and services. These range
from the marketing of agricultural products, the trade in farm supplies and
building materials as well as household and garden products and a wide range of
different services. Besides its tasks performed on behalf of the
Raiffeisen-Lagerhaus warehouses, RWA is also a holding company with subsidiaries
in Austria and in selected neighbouring Eastern European countries. In 2011, the
RWA Group generated revenues of around EUR2.5bn.
This press release is available for download in German and English at
www.agrana.com and www.rwa.at.
Further inquiry note:
AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
Mag.(FH) Christine Göller
Public Relations
Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12084
e-mail: christine.goeller@agrana.com
Mag.(FH) Hannes Haider
Investor Relations
Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12905
e-mail:hannes.haider@agrana.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
Donau-City-Straße 9
A-1220 Wien
phone: +43-1-21137-0
FAX: +43-1-21137-12045
mail: info.ab@agrana.com
WWW: www.agrana.com
sector: Food
ISIN: AT0000603709
indexes: WBI, ATX Prime
stockmarkets: Präsenzhandel: Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, official market: Wien
language: English