Ahlström

Ahlstrom Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq Helsinki: AHL1V
Industry	fiber-based materials including nonwovens
Founded	1851
Founder	Antti Ahlström
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Sakari Ahdekivi Interim CEO & President, and CFO
Products	fiber-based materials for everyday applications such as filters, medical fabrics, life science and diagnostics, wallcoverings and food packaging
Revenue	1.1 billion EUR
Number of employees	3 233 (2016)
Website	http://www.ahlstrom.com/

Ahlstrom provides innovative fiber-based materials with a function in everyday life. Ahlstrom's shares have been traded on the main list of the since March 2006. Registered trademarks include NatureMold sustainable molding material; AceBlade cost effective solution for Vacuum Infusion Process; Flow2Save a media for High Efficiency Air (HEA) filtration applications; Disruptor nano-fiber based water filter media using electrokinetic absorption and mechanical entrapment; Trinitex activated carbon air and water filter media; and Cytosep solid phase blood plasma filer media.

The company is controlled by the Ahlström–Gullichsen family.

Ahlstrom has its roots in Finland: the founder, Antti Ahlström, was one of Finland's most prominent 19th century businessmen. Ahlstrom was started in 1908, and originates from the family saw mill, iron and shipping business of Antti Ahlström established in 1851. The company focused on pulp, paper and timber production and machinery, later expanding to glassworks (Iittala and Karhula).

Ahlstrom's paper production began in Varkaus in 1921 on Europe's largest paper production machine. By the beginning of the 1930s, Ahlstrom had grown into Finland's largest industrial conglomerate.

The outbreak of World War II led the company to convert much of its production to support the Finnish war effort. Following the war, the company played a major role in Finland's reconstruction and in its war reparations obligation. Ahlstrom alone accounted for nearly 15 percent of the country's total reparations. The company continued to expand into the 1950s, stepping up its engineering operations while also expanding into chemical wood processing technology.

Ahlstrom Corporation began to rapidly grow internationally in 1963, by acquiring a majority interest in a paper mill in Mathi close to Turin, Italy, that produced filter papers and rifle cartridge paper. This was the first significant international acquisition made by a Finnish company and made Ahlstrom a pioneer among major Finnish companies in internationalization.