EANS-News: AGRANA and Amalgamated form joint venture for the manufacture of crystalline betaine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide
distribution. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

? 40 million for a new crystallisation plant in Tulln

Joint Ventures/Cooperation/Collaboration

Vienna - The fruit, starch and sugar group AGRANA signed a joint venture
agreement with US-based sugar producer Amalgamated (The Amalgamated Sugar
Company) relating to the construction of a betaine crystallisation plant at its
sugar mill in Tulln, Lower Austria. The conclusion of the contract is subject to
approval by the anti-trust authorities.

Betaine is manufactured from sugar beet molasses and has numerous practical
applications. Betaine is used not only in the livestock sector as a constituent
of animal feedstuffs but also in food supplements and sports drinks. Due to its
osmoregulatory properties, betaine is also used in cosmetic products.

Work on the new betaine crystallisation plant is intended to start in early
2019. The financing required for the new facility of the joint venture amounts
to around EUR 40 million. The construction work will take approximately a year.

AGRANA has been processing the sugar beet molasses obtained during the
production of sugar to make liquid betaine since 2015. As a result of the new
plant, Tulln will become the world's third production site at which natural,
high-quality, crystalline betaine is manufactured. "Amalgamated is one of the
world's leading providers of the technology which extracts top-quality
crystalline betaine from sugar beet molasses. We look forward to a successful
partnership", highlighted Johann Marihart, CEO of AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG. "Our
investment in additional capacity and more value added increases our
competitiveness during what is presently a difficult situation in the sugar
market in terms of prices", Marihart added.

About AGRANA
AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and numerous
industrial intermediate products. About 8,700 employees at 59 production sites
worldwide generate annual Group revenue of approximately EUR 2.6 billion.
Established in 1988, the company is the world market leader in fruit
preparations and the leading producer of fruit juice concentrates in Europe. As
well, its Starch segment is a major manufacturer of custom starch products and
bioethanol. AGRANA today is also the leading sugar producer in Central and
Eastern Europe.

About Amalgamated
Amalgamated is the second-largest sugar beet producer in the USA, with a
cooperative-based sugar beet acreage of around 73,000 hectares in Idaho, Oregon
and Washington. Besides the production of around one million tonnes of sugar,
Amalgamated also sells beet cossettes, molasses and animal feed.

This announcement is available in German and English at https://www.agrana.com/
en [https://www.agrana.com/en].

Further inquiry note:
AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG

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

Mag.(FH) Markus Simak
Public Relations
Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12084
e-mail: markus.simak@agrana.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

issuer: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
F.-W.-Raiffeisen-Platz 1
A-1020 Wien
phone: +43-1-21137-0
FAX: +43-1-21137-12926
mail: info.ab@agrana.com
WWW: www.agrana.com
ISIN: AT000AGRANA3
indexes: WBI
stockmarkets: Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Wien, Berlin
language: English

Original-Content von: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell