Swedish Match AB history, profile and history video
Swedish Match AB is a Sweden-based tobacco company. The Company’s operations are divided into three reportable segments: Snus and snuff, Other tobacco products and Lights. The Snus and snuff segment comprises smokeless tobacco products that are produced and sold primarily in Sweden, Norway and the United States. The Other tobacco products segment comprises chewing tobacco and mass market cigars manufactured and sold on the United States market. The Lights segment includes the manufacture and distribution of matches and lighters. The Company has production units located in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden and the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 20 directly held subsidiaries, including the wholly owned Swedish Match North Europe AB, Swedish Match Distribution AB, Swedish Match Cigars Holding AB, Svenskt Snus AB and GC Sweden AB, among others.”
“Swedish Match History
The operations of Swedish Match originate from two companies: Svenska Tobaksmonopolet, a tobacco monopoly owned by the Swedish state and founded in 1915, and Svenska Tändsticks Aktiebolaget (STAB), a match manufacturing company founded in 1917 by Ivar Kreuger (also known as the ”Match King”) in connection with the acquisition of Jönköpings Tändsticksfabrik. In 1992, the tobacco and lights operations were joined in the Procordia Group. Two years later, they were merged into an independent company named Swedish Match, which became publicly listed in 1996.
Svenska Tändsticks AB (STAB)
In 1917, Ivar Kreuger founded Svenska Tändsticks Aktiebolaget (STAB) in Jönköping (also known as “City of the matches”). It was a merger between Aktiebolaget Förenade Tändsticksfabriker and Jönköpings & Vulcans Tändsticksfabriksaktiebolag. A year later, STAB was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. By expanding through acquisition of government-created monopolies by lending money to the governments, and through mergers with for instance the British match company Bryant and May in 1927, it became the world’s largest match manufacturer. In 1930, the company controlled 60 percent of the world’s match production and was the sole owner of match companies in 33 countries.
Following the death of Ivar Kreuger in 1932, the ownership structure in STAB changed and a number of factories were liquidated. During 1938, STAB’s share of the world’s matchmaking fell to 20 percent. When the match market declined sharply in the 1950s, STAB looked for new business ventures and acquired more than 50 companies between 1968 and 1976.
In 1980, Svenska Tändsticks AB changed its name to Swedish Match to create unity throughout the group. In 1988 the company was acquired by Stora AB and was sold two years later to Nederlight. After another two years, Procordia acquired Swedish Match.
AB Svenska Tobaksmonopolet
In 1915, the Swedish government founded AB Svenska Tobaksmonopolet and nationalized all Swedish tobacco production plants. The monopoly was introduced in order to give the government funds to finance the country’s military defense and a new national pension system
During the 1960s, the monopoly on production, import and sale of tobacco was abolished in Sweden. Svenska Tobaksmonopolet was converted to a new state-owned company named Svenska Tobaks AB. In 1971, the ownership of the tobacco group was transferred to Statsföretag AB, a state-owned conglomerate, which in 1984 was renamed Procordia.
As a result of the monopoly being abolished and in order to broaden the market, the Dutch cigar company Elisabeth Bas/La Paz (EBAS), the American tobacco manufacturer Pinkerton Tobacco Company (maker of Red Man, a chewing tobacco brand introduced in the US in 1904) and the Dutch cigar producer Willem II were acquired between 1968 and 1989.
In 1989, Procodia was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Volvo acquired part of Procordia in 1990 and became the principal owner together with the Swedish government.To complement the tobacco business, Procordia, in 1992, acquired the match and lighter company Swedish Match from Nederlight.
Swedish Match AB
In 1992, the listed company Procordia acquired the match and lighter business named Swedish Match. The operations of Swedish Match were integrated with Procordia United Brands, one of Procordia’s business operations, and was renamed Swedish Match to take advantage of international name recognition. In 1994, Swedish Match functioned as an independent company and was later, in 1996, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
In 1999, the company sold its cigarette manufacturing to Austria Tabak but is still active as a distributor of cigarettes on the Swedish market.
In 2009, Swedish Match entered an agreement with Philip Morris International and formed the joint venture company SWPM International for exploring and developing new markets for snus and other smokefree tobacco products outside Scandinavia and the United States.The companies have an ownership of 50 percent each in SWMP International.
In 2010, Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) formed a new company specialized in cigars. Swedish Match brought its entire cigar business (with the exception of U.S. mass market cigars) and pipe tobacco into the new company, while STG transferred all of its tobacco business. The new company took over the name Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Swedish Match became a partner with 49 percent of the company, and the remaining shares are owned by Skandinavisk Holding A/S.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
**Video published on YouTube by “starkfilm“