Leaf International BV was a

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

company founded in the 1940s. Leaf had sales of approximately €527m (2010) and 2,400 employees. It had 11 factories in seven countries. Leaf was owned by

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based French private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$133 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, E ...

Nordic Capital Nordic Capital private equity funds focus on investments primarily in Northern Europe. Nordic Capital invests in selective industries with a particular focus on Healthcare, Tech & Payments and Financial Services. In addition selective investments ...

, and management.

Bengt Baron Bengt Baron (born 6 March 1962) is a business leader and former backstroke swimmer from Sweden. Baron won the 100 m backstroke at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and was a member of the bronze winning team from Sweden in the 4×100 m f ...

was the CEO of Leaf. After several mergers and acquisitions Leaf merged with the Swedish

company

Cloetta Cloetta is a Swedish confectionery and nuts company. The company manufactures and sells local confectionery brands on its main markets Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The company has 8 factories in five coun ...

, and dropped the Leaf name.Merger between Cloetta and LEAF – Presentation
on Cloetta website, 16 Dec 2011 Leaf was also notable for its

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s, more specifically the

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, sta ...

s sets, with the first of them released in 1948.1948-49 Leaf Baseball Checklist
/ref>

History

The company was founded by Sol S. Leaf in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, in the 1940s. Its history includes a number of mergers, acquisitions, and divisions, as well as several name changes. 1948 Leaf Ted Williams

In 1940, the Leaf Confectionery Company introduced Rain-Blo Bubble Gum. In 1947, the Overland Candy Company (makers of

Whoppers Whoppers are malted milk balls covered with an artificially flavored "chocolatey coating" produced by The Hershey Company. The candy is a small, round ball about in diameter. They are typically sold either in a small cardboard candy box, in a l ...

brand malted milk candy) merged with the Chicago Biscuit Company, Leaf Confectionary Company, and Leaf Machinery to form Leaf Brands. In 1948, Leaf issued its first set of

s, the first post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

color set. In 1949, Leaf Brands reintroduced Whoppers' Malted Milk Balls. In the 1960s, Whoppers Malted Milk Balls brand and other products manufactured by Leaf Brands were purchased by

W. R. Grace and Company W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...

, which sold them back in 1976. In 1983, Leaf acquired

Jolly Rancher Jolly Rancher is an American brand of sweet hard candy, gummies, jelly beans, lollipops, sour bites, and a line of soda put out by Elizabeth Beverage Company in 2004. It is currently manufactured by The Hershey Company. History Bill and Doroth ...

. Also in 1983, the Leaf Candy Company in Illinois was purchased by Huhtamäki Oyj of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, who merged it with Phoenix Candy (the maker of

Now and Later Now and Later is an American brand of fruit-flavored taffy-like candy manufactured by Ferrara Candy Company. The candy is formed into squares packaged in colorful paper. Twelve flavors are currently available in both Traditional and Chewy var ...

) and another candy company it had acquired, all under the Leaf name. Huhtamäki Oyj acquired the

Donruss Donruss was a US-based trading cards manufacturing company founded in 1954 and acquired by the Panini Group in 2009. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During th ...

trading card division of

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

at about the same time and merged it into Leaf. In 1986, Leaf purchased some confectionery brands from

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company founded in 1894. In 1987, its international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney, creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of ...

, maker of

Milk Duds Milk Duds are a brand of chocolate-coated caramel candies produced by The Hershey Company. The candy is a caramel ball covered with a confectionery chocolate coating made from cocoa and vegetable oil. Milk Duds are sold in a yellowish-orange box. ...

. Also in 1986, Leaf, Inc. sold Phoenix Candy to Kouri Capital, a Finnish investment firm, changing its name to Phoenix Confections. In 1988, Hollywood Brands, maker of

Payday A pay day or payday is a specified day of the week or month when one is paid, usually workers collecting wages from their employers. Pay Day, PayDay or Payday may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Pay Day'' (1918 film), a ...

and

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...

, was purchased from

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * Sara (2010 ...

by Huhtamäki Oyj and became part of Leaf, Inc. In 1989, the

Heath bar The Heath bar is a candy bar made of toffee, almonds, and milk chocolate, first manufactured by the Heath Brothers Confectionery in 1928. Since its acquisition of the Leaf International North American confectionery operations late in 1996, the Hea ...

was purchased by Leaf. In the 1990s, Leaf became one of the world's top-ten confectionery companies; it was especially strong in non-

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

products such as

pastille A pastille is a type of sweet or medicinal pill made of a thick liquid that has been solidified and is meant to be consumed by light chewing and allowing it to dissolve in the mouth. The term is also used to describe certain forms of incense. A ...

s and

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its te ...

. By 1993 Leaf was the fourth largest candy producer in North America. In 1996, the

Hershey Foods Corporation The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milksh ...

acquired the Leaf North American confectionery operations from Huhtamäki Oyj. Over the next few years, Leaf manufacturing and sales became integrated into existing Hershey manufacturing and sales operations, effectively ending Leaf's existence as a separate operating unit in the US. In 1999, Leaf's European and Asian business, with brands such as Läkerol, Jenkki, and Sportlife, was sold to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

company CSM, which added the brands to their confectionery unit, which already included

Malaco Malaco is a Swedish brand of confectionery products owned by Cloetta. Their products are sold in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the US, Israel and the Netherlands among others. Products include Brio, Fruxo, Pim Pim,Swedish Fish, Djungelvr� ...

, Red Band, and Venco. In 2000, CSM acquired Continental Sweets with market positions in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK. In 2001, CSM acquired Socalbe, based in Italy, along with brands such as Dietorelle and Dietor. In 2005, CSM sold its confectionery unit to two private equity firms,

and

, that restored the Leaf name and continue to own the company today. In 2007, Leaf acquired

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

Italy, including the brand Saila. The company acquired Leaf Holland B.V in May 2010. In February 2012 Leaf's merger with the Swedish confectionery company

(that had been announced in December 2011) was completed.Cloetta AB: Cloetta completes the merger with LEAF and announces changes to the Board of Directors
on Business Wire, 16 Feb 2012

Products

Leaf products included sugared and sugar-free gum, pastilles, candy, liquorices, peppermints, chocolates,

nougat Nougat ( , ; ; az, nuqa; fa, نوقا) is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are common), whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The c ...

s, sweeteners and chews.

Brands

At the moment of the merger, Leaf owned the following brands: * Red Band (

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) *

Läkerol Läkerol is a Swedish brand of candies. The candies are sugar-free pastilles with the major ingredient being gum arabic. The candies are produced in a variety of flavors. The candy is produced by the Swedish confectionery company, Cloetta. Läke ...

(

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) *

(

) * Saila (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) * Sportlife (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) *

Jenkki Jenkki ("Yankee") is a Finnish chewing gum brand developed in 1951 by Huhtamäki. Nowadays Jenkki is in ownership of Cloetta. In 1975 Jenkki introduced the first chewing gum in the world that included xylitol. Xylitol gum was invented in Turku, ...

(

) *

Chewits Chewits is the brand name of a cuboid-shaped, soft chewy sweets manufactured by Cloetta. History The sweets were first produced in 1963 as "Chewzits", manufactured by J Arthur Holland in Southport. In 1965, Hollands were acquired by James Goldsm ...

(

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) * Xylifresh (

) * King (

) * Sisu (

) * Dietor (

) * Galatine (

) * Sperlari (

) * Tupla (

) * Mynthon (

) * Dietorelle (

) * Venco (

) * Ahlgrens bilar (

)

References

External links

* (archived, 4 Feb 2011) {{Sports cards Confectionery companies of the United States Food and drink companies of Sweden Dutch chocolate companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in Chicago Defunct manufacturing companies of Sweden Multinational companies Holding companies established in 1947 Food and drink companies established in 1947 Food and drink companies disestablished in 2012 1947 establishments in Illinois The Hershey Company brands Baseball cards Holding companies disestablished in 2012 Swedish companies disestablished in 2012