AAK Acquires Rapsona AB

The acquisition will enable us to offer our customers a more complete product portfolio in line with their needs,” says Jerker Hartwall, AAK Group President and CEO.

05/09/08 AAK has acquired all shares in Rapsona AB. The newly acquired company, based in Järfälla, north of Stockholm, supplies restaurants, food service, bakeries, small convenience food producers and other customers with a range of products based on vegetable oil. With estimated net sales in the region of SEK 70 million, the company has a strong position in its core business in the Swedish food industry.

“We are delighted with this latest development, which fits in very nicely with our strategy of advancing up the value chain. The acquisition will enable us to offer our customers a more complete product portfolio in line with their needs,” says Jerker Hartwall, AAK Group President and CEO.

“This is a natural progression for Rapsona,” says the previous owner Georgios Vasmatzis. “Rapsona is now of a size that calls for a more structured environment to ensure continuous development.”

The newly acquired company will continue to operate under the name Rapsona AB. Georgios Vasmatzis will stay on as a member of Rapsona’s board of directors, and will be working with AAK to develop the company towards new goals.

“Our aim is for products with high added value to account for an increasing proportion of sales, and the acquisition of Rapsona should be viewed as a step towards achieving our strategy. The Rapsona AB acquisition makes us stronger in the area of food solutions. Further, Rapsona will make a positive contribution to AAK’s result in 2008,” says Jerker Hartwall.