Agrana

The Agrana Group is a food company based in Vienna that produces sugar, starch, fruit preparation, juice concentrate and ethanol fuel. Agrana is mainly supplying to international food industry, with some minor end customer business. A known brand is Wiener Zucker. Agrana runs around 50 facilities with major production bases in Australia, Austria, Argentina, Brasil, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, United States.
History.
Agrana was founded in 1988 as a holding company for the Austrian sugar and Starch industry. Operations started with 3 sugar plants (Tulln, Leopoldsdorf and Hohenau), a potato starch plant (Gmünd) and a corn starch plant (Aschach). Company history should however be considered dating back to 1902, when raw sugar production started in Leopoldsdorf. Similarly, sugar production in Tulln had started in 1937.
The company went public on the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1991.
In 1990, Agrana took stakes in sugar and starch plants in Hungary, and investment in neighbouring countries followed.
From 2003 to 2005, Agrana started reducing its sugar business due to European Union quotas, and diversified in the fruit processing and juice concentrates businesses, acquiring several companies : Steirerobst, Vallosaft, Wink, Atys... As of 2012, Agrana operated 9 sugar plants, 5 starch plants and 37 processing sites for fruits throughout central Europe.
Shareholders.
75,5% of Agrana shares belong to "Z&S Zucker und Stärke Holding AG", a 100% subsidiary of "Agrana Zucker, Stärke und Frucht Holding AG". 24,5% is in free float.
German company Südzucker AG and "Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H." each hold a 50% stake in "Agrana Zucker, Stärke und Frucht Holding AG".
In turn, "Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H."s main stakeholders is the Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien, with a 78,31% stake. Remaining capital is in the hands of Marchfelder Zuckerfabriken GesmbH, Estezet Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Rübenproduzenten Beteiligungs GesmbH and the Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs AG.
Group of companies.
Research and development.
The company "Agrana Research & Innovation Center" is an AGRANA 100% subsidiary responsible for research and development for sugar, fruit, starch and bioethanol.