Agrana Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH Plan Merger

The joint venture will be fully consolidated by Agrana on the basis of a 50.01 % stake. RWA will hold the remaining stake of 49.99 %, with the option to increase this to 50 % after five years. The joint venture will be based in Kröllendorf (Lower Austria).

3/1/2011 --- The sugar, starch and fruit group Agrana and Raiffeisen Ware Austria (RWA) are considering a merger of their fruit juice concentrate subsidiaries Agrana Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH in the form of a joint venture.

Agrana Juice Holding GmbH has 12 production facilities in Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and China, as well as a warehouse in Germany. Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH operates three processing plants, one in Austria and two in Poland. The combined annual revenues of both fruit juice concentrate companies amount to around €250m.

The joint venture will be fully consolidated by Agrana on the basis of a 50.01 % stake. RWA will hold the remaining stake of 49.99 %, with the option to increase this to 50 % after five years. The joint venture will be based in Kröllendorf (Lower Austria).

“The merger of these two fruit juice concentrate subsidiaries is in response to changing market conditions such as the increasing consolidation on the part of the concentrate producers but also that of bottlers in particular”, says Johann Marihart, CEO of Agrana Beteiligungs-AG. The transaction is subject to approval from the competent anti-trust authorities.

Agrana, the processer of agricultural commodities in the sugar, starch and fruit segments, is the leading sugar company in Central and Eastern Europe and a leading manufacturer of special starch products in Europe. In the fruit segment, Agrana is the top global producer of fruit preparations for the dairy products industry and one of Europe’s leading producers of fruit juice concentrates. In its 2009|10 financial year, Agrana generated revenues of around €2bn with approximately 8,000 personnel based at 52 production sites located in 25 countries around the world.

RWA, the wholesaler and service provider of the Lagerhaus cooperatives, is one of the largest trading companies in Austria and particularly active in the trading of agricultural products and farm supplies, building materials, the DIY segment and energy trading. RWA holds investments in Austria and in the CEE region. In 2010, the RWA Group generated revenues of just under €2bn.