(Press Release)
LAHTI, Finland—Viking Malt Oy and Carlsberg Group have, on the 4th of Jan 2016, signed an agreement where Carlsberg sells its subsidiary Danish Malting Group A/S (DMG) to Viking Malt. Parties have also agreed about a long term supply of raw materials for Carlsberg breweries. The transaction is expected to be finalized following the approval of relevant competition authorities. This may take a few months.
“This acquisition will improve Viking Malt’s capability to better serve its customers worldwide and strengthen Viking Malt’s position as the leading maltster in Northern Europe”, says Antti Orkola, Managing Director of Viking Malt Group.
DMG has one malting plant in Denmark and two in Poland. As Viking Malt has its maltings in Finland, Sweden and Lithuania, the expansion to the neighboring countries is a natural step. After the transaction Viking Malt has malting capacity of 590.000 t/a, which brings Viking Malt to number five in Europe and number nine in the world in the malting industry.
“We are also thrilled about acquiring the roasted malt production of DMG Poland to complement our existing specialty malt portfolio. Now we can state that Viking Malt will be the leading producer of specialty malts globally thus being able to offer wider range of solutions to brewing industry including a strongly growing craft beer market,” says Orkola.