Fiskars acquires Iittala Group

Now leader in Nordic housewares market

The acquisition of the Finnish design company Iittala Group in 2007 made Fiskars Corporation a leader on the Nordic housewares market. Fiskars is now also a major player in the Nordic design area, since Iittala includes some of Scandinavia’s most prestigious brands, such as Arabia, Hackman, Rörstrand, Höganäs Keramik, BodaNova and Høyang-Polaris.

The price for Iittala was approximately EUR 230 million, which was partly financed through a EUR 30 million loan from NIB.

Fiskars has a long tradition of Finnish design and the manufacturing of utility articles, such as scissors, knives, axes and garden equipment. The acquisition of Iittala will even out the group’s seasonal fluctuations of sales: while spring and early summer are the most important seasons for Fiskars’ garden equipment, sales of Iittala’s designware tend to peak at the end of the year, near Christmas.

Fiskars’ President and CEO Kari Kauniskangas sees the company acquisition as a logical step in the corporation’s strategy:

“We are looking for growth in areas that naturally suit us and our brand portfolio. The acquisition has strengthened our position as a corporation with deep European roots specialising in design and branded goods. Iittala Group is an interesting and growing company with products and know-how that complement our own. Fiskars and the Iittala Group have surprisingly few overlapping operations. Instead, we are expecting synergy effects worth about five million euro per year, in for instance sales, distribution, and the purchase of supplies-all areas where we see a lot of opportunities for cooperation.”

Fiskars is an international corporation with roots in the Fiskars ironworks founded more than 350 years ago in southwest Finland. The corporation employs some 4,500 people around the world. At year-end 2007, Iittala Group employed some 1,400 people.