AGRANA fixes 100 per cent acquisition of Steirerobst

AGRANA has signed a contract for the complete acquisition of Steirerobst AG as of the end of February 2006 with the present co-owners (Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Landes-Land- wirtschaftskammer Steiermark and Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung).

Date: 03.02.2006

AGRANA has signed a contract for the complete acquisition of Steirerobst AG as of the end of February 2006 with the present co-owners (Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Landes-Landwirtschaftskammer Steiermark and Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung).  Technically, the acquisition will be effected by purchasing the remaining stock of Steirische Agrarbeteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H., in which AGRANA currently holds a stake of roughly 56 per cent.  Since Steirische Agrarbeteiligungsgesellschaft is the sole owner of Steirerobst AG, acquiring this stock will give AGRANA 100 per cent of Steirerobst AG.

Following the complete acquisition of Atys at the end of 2005, the reacquisition of DSF and the purchase of Steirerobst’s remain stock, AGRANA will have created the prerequisites for reorganizing its fruit group.  The aim is to create one sub-division each within AGRANA’S Fruit Division for fruit juice concentrates and fruit preparations.  This will simplify internal processes, reduce costs and improve service to the customer.

The group will be extending its fruit preparations R&D activities at Gleisdorf – which is currently Steirerobst’s Head Office – and will also be locating the holding company for all its fruit juice concentrates subsidiaries there.

The Steirerobst Group recorded revenues of € 126 million with some 1,300 employees during the 2005 financial year.  It has production facilities in Austria, Hungary, Romania, the Ukraine, Poland and Russia.

In less than three years, AGRANA has been able to build up a completely new business division – Fruit – alongside its sugar and starch operations by acquiring Vallø Saft, Steirerobst, Atys, Wink and Dirafrost.  The Fruit Division will account for over a third of AGRANA’s anticipated full-year revenues of nearly € 1.5 billion this financial year (last year:  € 981 million), despite the fact that this revenue figure only includes nine months of revenues by Atys.