EANS-News: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG / EU Commission approves joint venture between AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH

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Joint Ventures/Cooperation/Collaboration

Wien (euro adhoc) - The EU Commission today granted AGRANA
Beteiligungs-AG (AGRANA) and RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG (RWA) the
green light for the merger of their fruit juice concentrates
subsidiaries AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria
GmbH to form a joint venture. This decision forms the anti-trust
prerequisite for concluding the transaction. The closing is planned
for early June 2012.

The newly founded joint venture, YBBSTALER AGRANA JUICE GmbH, will
have its head offices in Kröllendorf|Lower Austria and will have 14
production sites, located in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary,
Poland, Romania, the Ukraine and China. Besides fruit juice
concentrates, the joint venture will also produce fruit purees and
natural flavourings as well as direct juices for use by the beverages
industry. Annual sales revenues will be around EUR350m and fully
consolidated by AGRANA.

"The merger of these companies is an important step to consolidate
our position in the fruit juice concentrate market," says Johann
Marihart, CEO of AGRANA.

"The joint venture is a win-win constellation for Ybbstaler and
AGRANA Juice, and aims to further increase our competitiveness in
increasingly global fruit juice concentrate markets," adds Klaus
Buchleitner, CEO of RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG.

AGRANA, the refiner of agricultural raw materials in the areas of
sugar, starch and fruit, is the leading sugar company in Central and
Eastern Europe and a top producer of special starch products in
Europe. In the fruit segment, AGRANA is the top global producer of
fruit preparations for the dairy industry and one of the leading
producers of fruit juice concentrates in Europe. With approximately
8,000 personnel at 53 production facilities in 26 countries, AGRANA
generates global revenues of over EUR2bn.

RWA, the wholesaler and service provider of the Raiffeisen Lagerhaus
(Raiffeisen warehouses) in Austria, provides a wide range of goods
and services. These range from the marketing of agricultural
products, the trade in farm supplies and building materials as well
as household and garden products and a wide range of different
services. Besides its tasks performed on behalf of the
Raiffeisen-Lagerhaus warehouses, RWA is also a holding company with
subsidiaries in Austria and in selected neighbouring Eastern European
countries. In 2011, the RWA Group generated revenues of around
EUR2.5bn.

This press release is available for download in German and English at
www.agrana.com and www.rwa.at.

Further inquiry note:
AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
Mag.(FH) Christine Göller
Public Relations
Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12084
e-mail: christine.goeller@agrana.com

Mag.(FH) Hannes Haider
Investor Relations
Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12905
e-mail:hannes.haider@agrana.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
Donau-City-Straße 9
A-1220 Wien
phone: +43-1-21137-0
FAX: +43-1-21137-12045
mail: info.ab@agrana.com
WWW: www.agrana.com
sector: Food
ISIN: AT0000603709
indexes: WBI, ATX Prime
stockmarkets: Präsenzhandel: Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, official market: Wien
language: English