Orkla acquires Dansk Droge

24.05.2006

Orkla has entered into an agreement to take over all the shares in Dansk Droge. The company will play an important part in connection with Orkla’s focus on health-related consumer products in the years and months ahead.
Dansk Droge manufactures and markets a wide range of health-related consumer products, including the Futura, Gerimax, Livol and Litozin brands. The company’s export sales have been growing in recent years, and its exports to more than 25 countries account for approximately 60 per cent of operating revenues. Dansk Droge primarily distributes its products through grocery stores on the Scandinavian market, while other export markets are mainly served through pharmacies and specialised stores.

“Orkla sees opportunities in health-related consumer products. With the acquisition of Dansk Droge we have strengthened our Nordic position in this sector, and can offer consumers a wider range of products to choose between,” says Senior Vice President Torkild Nordberg.

“With Polaris as its owner, Dansk Droge has achieved significant sales growth since 2002 and market positions in all the Nordic countries and Poland. In Orkla, Dansk Droge has a new owner with a strong position as a supplier of branded consumer goods to Nordic retailers,” says Viggo Nedergaard Jensen, Managing Partner in Polaris.

The majority shareholder in Dansk Droge is Polaris Private Equity, which owns 72 per cent of the shares. The Sports Nutrition companies SPP in Sweden and Finland, which have been responsible for around 17 per cent of Dansk Droge’s total operating revenues, are not included in this transaction. The SPP companies have sales and distribution rights in Scandinavia to some of the leading sports nutrition brands, including Twinlab, Multipower, Weider and Met-Rx.

Dansk Droge has approximately 297 employees. The part of the company that has been taken over posted operating revenues of around NOK 400 million in 2005.


Dansk Droge is the leading drug company in Denmark in the field of multivitamins, dietary supplements and homeopathic medicines. At its production plant, the most modern in the Nordic region, the company manufactures a wide range of dietary supplements that are sold in supermarkets, Matas, health food stores and pharmacies.

Visit www.danskdroge.dk for more information

The Orkla Group is the leading supplier of branded consumer goods to the Nordic grocery market. The Branded Consumer Goods business accounts for approximately 55 per cent of Group operating revenues and comprises Orkla Foods, Orkla Brands and Orkla Media. Through MöllerCollett, Orkla manufactures, markets and distributes health-related products such as cod-liver oil, fish oil, vitamins, weight reducing products, minerals and other health products.

Visit www.orkla.com for more information

Polaris Private Equity
Polaris Private Equity is a Danish private equity firm investing in mature small and medium sized industrial and service sector businesses, based in Denmark and southern Sweden, with a sound development potential and revenues of €25m or more. Polaris is currently an active investor in six businesses with aggregate revenues of about €670m and more than 4,500 employees. Set up in 1999, the initial Polaris fund held capital commitments of €210m, having invested in the following companies: Sonion, Louis Poulsen, Vest-Wood, Dansk Droge, Novasol-dansommer, Novadan and LOGSTOR. Polaris has completed four exits: Novasol-dansommer (2002), Novadan (2004), Louis Poulsen’s wholesale business (2005) and Vest-Wood (2005), all successfully sold to industrial buyers, some of which were major international companies. Final closing of Fund II was completed in March 2006 with total commitments of €270m. To date, Fund II has invested in AddPro and Jetpak, both companies based in Sweden.

Visit www.polarisequity.dk for more information




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Torkild Norberg

Executive VP

Orkla Group

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