Chr. Hansen A/S is a global bioscience company based in Hørsholm, Denmark that develops natural solutions for the food, beverage, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. The company is a supplier of food cultures, probiotics, enzymes and natural colors. Its products are used in cheese production, fermented milk, meat, food service, beverages, wine, fruit preparation, ice cream and desserts, confectionery, cereals, spreads, bakery products, snacks, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products. Chr. Hansen A/S has development centers in Denmark, the United States, France and Germany including research facilities in Denmark and France. A large percentage of the employees engage in research and development for the international food and pharmaceuticals industries. Chr. Hansen A/S has five main production sites: two in Denmark and Germany and one each in France and the US and an international presence in 30 countries. It has been listed on Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen since June 3, 2010, under the symbol "CHR". Its flavorings division was purchased by Symrise in 2008.
History
The company is named for its founder, Christian D. A. Hansen, a pioneering Danish chemist whose work focused on enzymes. Hansen began the company in 1874 as a joint venture with pharmacist H.P. Madsen. Initial products included animal rennet for cheese-making as well as annatto-based coloring agents for butter and cheese. Operations in the United States were begun shortly thereafter in 1878. Their lines soon expanded to include starter cultures for cheese, yogurt and sour cream. Hansen's son Johannes took over the company in 1916 upon his father's death. That same year, the company began production in England to bypass the German World War I blockade of exports to Great Britain and beyond. Facilities in Italy and Germany followed in 1936 during the inter-war period. Further international expansion followed, and the 1970s and 1980s saw a period of acquisition of other firms. In 1991, the Lundbeck Foundation obtained majority control of the company and initiated a major restructuring into a holding company format. Additional growth and consolidation followed, and Chr. Hansen Group was later spun off into a separate, independent company in 2005. In 2019 Chr. Hansen was ranked as the most sustainable company in the world. The ranking was given by the Canadian business and society magazine "Corporate Knights" and was announced at the World Economics Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
