Ameropa Holding is a Swiss

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

, headquartered in

Binningen, Switzerland Binningen (Swiss German: ''Binnige'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is nestled in a valley, on a plateau, and on two hills overlooking the city of Basel. History Bi ...

, that engages in the global distribution of

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

s and

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legume ...

. The company was founded in 1948 by Arthur Zivy and his son, Felix Zivy.

Andreas Zivy Andreas Zivy (born October 19, 1955) is a Swiss businessman based in Binningen, Switzerland. He is the current chairman of Swiss agribusiness Ameropa Holding AG. Biography Zivy was born in Basel in 1955. He completed his school education at Human ...

is the chairman of the company. It has operations in over 30 countries across all continents.

History

Arthur and his son, Felix Zivy, founded Ameropa in 1948. In the beginning, the company focused on the import of grains into

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the export of European fertilizers to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In the same year, a subsidiary was established in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

under the name Prochaska & Cie. In the 1950s, Ameropa entered the

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

grains market and obtained the European Agency for wheat and corn sales from Association de Cooperativas Argentinas. As one of the earliest companies, Ameropa began importing Brazilian soybeans into Europe in 1959. In the 1970s, Ameropa established its second subsidiary, AgriNégoce, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. By 2007, AgriNégoce employed over 130 people and had sales of over 120 million euros. In 2016, AgriNégoce was sold to the French agricultural company Axéréal. In the early 1990s, Ameropa expanded its operation to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Andreas Zivy, the son of Felix Zivy, was appointed CEO of the company in 1995. In 1997, Ameropa was a founding partner of the chemical trading company Kolmar, which was later on sold to Kolmar's management. The company provided US$70 million to MagIndustries to develop its potash project in the

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

in June 2008. At the time, the company also had a 9.4% shareholding in MagIndustries. The largest acquisition by the company was concluded in 2012, when Ameropa Holding acquired the Romanian nitrogen fertilizer factory Azomures and the Constanța Port Terminal, Chimpex. By the end of 2016, the company had expanded operations to 31 countries including distribution centers in various countries, for example

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, Hungary,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and the US.

References

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External links

Official Website
Agriculture companies of Switzerland 1948 establishments in Switzerland