Societas Europaea | |
Traded as | : KWS |
Industry | Agriculture, Biotechnology |
Predecessor | (1856) Rabbethge, Giesecke & Reinecke OHG (offene Handelsgesellschaft) (1864) Rabbethge & Giesecke OHG (1885) Conversion of the OHG into Zuckerfabrik (sugar refinery) Klein Wanzleben formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke AG (1937) Rabbethge & Giesecke AG (1946) Rescue company Rabbethge & Giesecke Saatzucht GmbH (1951) Kleinwanzlebener Saatzucht formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke AG (1975) KWS Kleinwanzlebener Saatzucht AG formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke (1999) KWS SAAT AG |
Founded | Klein Wanzleben, Germany (1856 ) |
Founder | Matthias Christian Rabbethge |
Headquarters | Einbeck, Germany |
Area served
|
Europe, North America, South America, Asia, the Middle East, North Africa |
Key people
|
Hagen Duenbostel (CEO), Andreas J. Büchting (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
Products | seeds varieties for : sugar beet, corn, rapeseed, cereals, energy crop |
Revenue | € 1,036.8 million (2015/2016) |
€ 112.8 million (2015/2016) | |
€ 85.3 million (2015/2016) | |
Total equity | € 763,0 million (2015/2016) |
Owner | As of September 27, 2016: Families Büchting/Arend Oetker (52,5.0%) Tessner Beteiligungs GmbH (15.4%) free float (32.1%) |
Number of employees
|
4,843 (2015/2016) |
Subsidiaries |
the largest subsidiaries are: cereals: KWS LOCHOW GMBH (100%)- (Germany) |
Website | http://www.kws.com |
the largest subsidiaries are:
KWS SAAT SE (ISIN: DE0007074007) is an independent, family-owned German company that focuses on plant breeding, with activities in about 70 countries. KWS is the fifth largest seed producer worldwide based on sales. The product range includes seed varieties for sugar beet, corn, cereals, rapeseed and potatoes. The capital letters "K," "W" and "S" in the name KWS stand for Klein Wanzlebener Saatzucht, which means seed breeding from Klein Wanzleben. The company’s original headquarters were in Klein Wanzleben, an East German town located near the city of Magdeburg. Its main markets are in the temperate climate zones of Europe, North and South America as well as North Africa and Asia. KWS has a network of more than 30 breeding stations, 130 testing stations and around 60 subsidiaries. In 1954, the company went public on the Hamburg-Hannover Stock Exchange and has been on the SDAX list of the since June 2006.
In 1838 the Kleinwanzleben Zuckerfabrik (Kleinwanzleben Sugar Refinery) was founded as a . In 1856 the majority of its shares were acquired by the sugar beet grower and farmer Matthias Christian Rabbethge, one of the pioneers of the German sugar industry. In the same year he and his then future son-in-law Julius Giesecke founded a general commercial partnership (OHG). In 1885 the Rabbethge & Giesecke OHG became a joint stock company (Aktiengesellschaft) under the name Zuckerfabrik Klein Wanzleben formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke Aktiengesellschaft (AG). In 1937 it was changed into Rabbethge & Giesecke AG because the Reichsnährstand did not want any anonymous investors in the agriculture and forestry sector. After the Second World War the company was relocated to the Lower Saxonian city of Einbeck which has been its headquarters since then. In 1946 a rescue company was established under the name Rabbethge & Giesecke Saatzucht GmbH. The foundation of this rescue company was necessary in order to continue the Western activities of the original joint stock company, which was still based in Klein Wanzleben. In 1951 the two companies were merged and took the title Kleinwanzlebener Saatzucht formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke AG. In 1975 it was changed into KWS Kleinwanzlebener Saatzucht formerly Rabbethge & Giesecke and then finally reduced to KWS SAAT AG in 1999.The first international branch of KWS was established in 1900 in the Ukrainian town Vinnytsia to meet the demand of sugar beet farmers in Russia. In 1920 the company began to expand its business into corn, fodder beet and potato breeding. Following the relocation to Einbeck, KWS focused on the breeding of sugar beet, corn, rapeseed, sunflower, cereals and potatoes. In the years directly after the war, the company became an important supplier to the West German sugar beet industry. Since 1963 it has established subsidiaries in Europe, North and South America, Asia and North Africa.