EQS-News: AGRANA resolves to acquire Raiffeisen Ware Austria (RWA) shares in AUSTRIA JUICE

AGRANA resolves to acquire Raiffeisen Ware Austria (RWA) shares in AUSTRIA JUICE

AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG has passed a resolution to acquire all the shares held by RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG in AUSTRIA JUICE GmbH. As a result, the shares in AUSTRIA JUICE GmbH (currently 50.01 % AGRANA and 49.99 % RWA) will be fully acquired by AGRANA. Following the necessary decisions reached by the Supervisory Board of AGRANA and the Annual General Meeting of RWA, AGRANA’s Management Board has today decided upon the purchase of the shares held by RWA, subject to approval from the competent anti-trust and regulatory authorities. The purchase price amounts to € 54.7 million.

AUSTRIA Juice is among the world’s leading producers of apple juice and berry juice concentrates as well as producing natural flavours, beverage bases and direct juices for the downstream beverage and food processing industry. The extensive product portfolio also includes all-in-one fruit wines and cider applications. The company is based in Kröllendorf (Lower Austria) and maintains 13 production sites in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and China. It employs a total of around 1,000 personnel. Annual revenues amount to approximately € 330 million and are fully consolidated by AGRANA.

“The full acquisition of AUSTRIA JUICE is an important step toward implementing our NEXT LEVEL group strategy. In our newly created strategic Food & Beverage Solutions division, we aim to strengthen the connection between AUSTRIA JUICE’s beverage bases and aroma business and our fruit preparations line, while expanding both globally. In addition, the product portfolio and the existing solution-oriented expertise at AUSTRIA JUICE will give us a boost in terms of tapping new markets, sales channels and customer groups,” explains AGRANA CEO Stephan Büttner.

“The sale of our AUSTRIA JUICE shares to AGRANA is another step toward focusing on our core business at RWA. In a fast-changing market environment, it is important to focus our efforts on our strengths in order to safeguard sustainable growth and cooperative added value,” explains Johannes Schuster, CEO of RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria.

About AGRANA

AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and numerous industrial intermediate products. Around 9,000 employees at 50 production facilities worldwide generate annual Group revenue of approximately € 3.5 billion. The Group was founded in 1988, is the global leader in fruit preparations and a leading player worldwide in the production of apple and berry juice concentrates in addition to being a key manufacturer of customised potato, corn and wheat starch products as well as organic Ethanol in its Starch segment. AGRANA is one of the leading sugar companies in Central and Eastern Europe.

About RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria

RWA is a producer, wholesaler and service provider operating in the business areas of agriculture, machinery, energy, building materials and home & garden. As the umbrella organisation of the Austrian Lagerhaus cooperatives, RWA provides a comprehensive range of services in these business areas. RWA also manages a wide range of equity investments and subsidiaries in Austria and in selected Eastern European countries. 

For more information:

AGRANA: Markus Simak, markus.simak@agrana.com, +43-1-21137-120-84

RWA: Stephanie Reimann, pr@rwa.at +43-2262-75550-3600