AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH plan merger

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.