Raisio sells €7m oat, soy and rice business to Norwegian firm

05-Mar-2013 - Last updated on 05-Mar-2013 at 18:05 GMT

Finnish ag-food giant Raisio has sold its €7m a year oat, soy and rice foods business that includes its Soygurt business to €330m Norwegian food company Kavli.

Raisio said it wanted to focus on core activities in announcing the undisclosed deal that will see Nordic Milkfreedom and Soygurt brands, as well as the licenses to the brands of Carlshamn Mejeri, Sunnuntai and Nalle non-dairy products pass to Kavli.

Raisio began manufacturing the products in its Turku, Finland, facility in 2006. The 10 staff there will remain under Kavli management.

“In future, Kavli will produce under contract manufacturing agreement Raisio’s Elovena snack drinks, which have strengthened their position in the Elovena product line,” Raisio said.

Raisio was not available for further comment at the time of publication.

Kavli is one of Norway's biggest food companies and has subsidiaries in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the UK.

2012 Raisio figures

In 2012 the maker of the Benecol stanol ingredients cholesterol lowering business turned over €584.1m compared to €552.6m in 2011 – up 5.7%, with EBITDA profit rising to €52.2m compared to €48.8m in 2011.

The Benecol business dropped slightly from €45.7m to €45m, although the Benecol brand itself that includes margarines and dairy drinks is worth considerably more than that.

Raisio licenses the brand out in most European countries as it does with McNeil Nutritionals in the UK.

At the release of the 2012 annual report, a spokesperson said the company had taken over branding rights of Benecol margarine end-products in Poland and the home market of Finland. It had also won US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) GRAS approval in the US.

At the same event, CEO Matti Rihko spoke of acquisitions in saying, “During Raisio’s growth phase, we have carried out four acquisitions, the last two in Central Europe in 2012.”

“At the moment, all the acquired companies are in better shape than at the time of acquisition and Raisio has grown to become a truly global company with a foothold in the Nordic Countries, the UK, continental and Eastern Europe.”