Biobest Group NV of Belgium and VekstMiljø AS today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Norway’s Pollinering AS. Pollinering AS, founded in 2003 by Mr. Karl-Ivar Stangeland, is a local Norwegian producer of bumblebee hives for pollination.
In the light of the decision of the Norwegian authorities to ban importation of commercial bumblebees in favour of locally produced hives, VekstMiljø and Biobest, through its Danish affiliate Borregaard Bioplant joined forces with Mr. Stangeland to strengthen the local production base with a view to serve the needs of growers of greenhouse and selected outdoor crops.
Mr. Karl-Ivar Stangeland comments: “I am pleased to see Biobest and VekstMiljø coming on board. I am working since many years to provide our local growers with good pollination solutions. Their needs continue to grow. This cooperation will help Pollinering to successfully step-up the scale of its production and to introduce new technologies enhancing production efficiency and quality.”
Mr. Berge Sandanger, Managing Director of VekstMiljø said: “Through a long standing cooperation with Borregaard Bioplant we supply a broad range of biocontrol solution to our local growers. Our customers strongly appreciate the opportunity to work with a single partner providing pollination and biocontrol solutions. This is how Borregaard Bioplant operates in other Scandinavian countries, with bumblebees being produced by Biobest of Belgium. By stepping into Pollinering together, we now make sure to be able to bring this value-added combined offering to our customers in Norway where relying on bumblebee imports is no longer an option.”
Steen Borregaard, CEO of Borregaard Bioplant: “Borregaard Bioplant is dedicated to be a leading provider of pollination and biocontrol solutions throughout Scandinavia. Since 2017, we became a member of the Biobest Group thereby ensuring access to a broad product portfolio and state of the art technology. For the Norwegian market, we are eager to leverage our intense collaboration with VekstMiljø with access to locally produced bumblebees. This joint investment in a local production company gives us this possibility. Pollinering’s products are already well known to local growers. Thanks to direct access to the expertise of Biobest, a world leader in bumblebee production, we will be able to accelerate the progress of Pollinering and contribute to the competitiveness of local horticultural production in Norway.”