Historical overview of the Priess family:The Priess family is one of the oldest families in Denmark within seafood. Anders Priess, the grandfather of Anders and Nels Priess, founded Priess & Co all the way back to the year 1900.
The mother of Anders ran a guesthouse on the port of Glyngøre, which already at that time was a busy fishing port, serving the locals with fresh fish.
However, Anders wanted more and at the age of 14 years he was ready to start buying fish from the local fishermen. One of the older buyers did not find this appropriate, and gave Anders a slap on the face, sending him into the cold water with the words: "Are we going to have children running around here to buy our fish!". This did not intimidate Anders, and he steadily continued expanding his business despite his young age.
Since he was too young to establish a company, his mother had to sign for him, which then became Priess & Company, his mother being "Company".
Soon, fresh and salted fish would be sent to other parts of Denmark, and even across the boarder to Germany.
Already in the 1930's, his son Henning and his younger brother Tage joined the company and continued to expand the business internationally. At that time, the company had expanded into many kinds of seafood, and in order secure a smooth change of generation, the company was divided into Priess & Co, which was given to Henning to continue and into Glyngøre and the Limfjord Company, involved in oyster, mussels and canned products (The brand "Glyngøre" is still one of the strongest seafood brands in Denmark), and which was given to Tage to develop.
In the 1950's, Henning's son Anders joined Priess & Co.
During 1950-1990 the company grew dramatically and expanded the business to offer a large variety of seafood products. Through a strong sales organisation and a vast net of global subsidiaries, it served the whole world with seafood and by 1990 had a turnover of € 150 million. Anders's younger brother Nels, already at the age of 20 years, was sent to Frederiksværk on the island of Zealand, to run an eel business, which later became Frederiksværk Aalexport. Anders and Nels divided the two companies between them after their father's death in 1982, but they both kept a 50/50 share in each other's company.
In the year 1991, Anders Priess decided to sell Priess & Co to Royal Greenland. The trout farms however remained in possesion of Anders and Nels Priess, who then founded AquaPri Denmark A/S, having trout farming as main activity. Frederiksværk Aaleexport also remained in the possession of Nels and Anders. AquaPri Denmark A/S:Anders Priess, despite turning 75 years on November 25, 2011, is still managing director for AquaPri Denmark A/S and also chairman for the holding company AquaPri A/S.
Main activities are farming of large trout from inland farms and also the new farmed species pike perch. 16 trout farms with a total capacity of 2.500 tons now belong to AquaPri Denmark. In 2006 we started farming pike perch in a 100% recirculated system in Egtved, near Vejle. In 2010 we started farming pike perch in Ejsing Sea Farm, close to Vinderup in the North Western part of Denmark. We aim to reach 200 tons during 2012.
AquaPri A/S (former Frederiksværk Aaleexport A/S):Henning's second son Nels Priess joined the seafood business by the end of the 1960's. He founded Frederiksværk Aalexport I/S, which was established as a sister company to Priess & Co. It is now a limited company (A/S) and like AquaPri Denmark A/S it is a 100 % subsidiary of AquaPri Holding A/S.
Main activities are farming of trout in the sea and distribution of eel.
Nels has continued as managing director for AquaPri A/S and also head of sales for the eel division.
AquaPri Holding A/S:AquaPri Holding A/S was established in 2007 as a holding company to AquaPri Denmark A/S and AquaPri A/S, (former Frederiksværk Aaleexport A/S) Change of generation:In 2004 and after 9 years abroad, Anders's son Henning returned from Spain and joined the company and today is in charge of the sales organisation and business development. Henning holds a business degree (HE) and HD in marketing from the Aarhus School of Business. Already in 1989, Henning started working at Priess & Co as a buying manager, and with the sale of Priess & Co, he continued in AquaPri Denmark And Frederiksværk Aalexport until 1994, where he and his family moved to Oslo, Norway, where he worked as export manager for Stolt Seafarm until 1997. From 1997-2003 Henning was in charge of the Domstein/Fjord Seafood sales office in Madrid. Today, Henning lives in Vejle in southern Jutland with his wife and 3 children.
In 2005, Nels's son Morten returned from Holland and joined the company and today is in charge of the whole production unit for trout and the Group finance division. Morten holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Copenhagen. Morten worked at Berendsen in Holland before returning to AquaPri A/S. Today, Morten lives in Copenhagen with his wife and 2 children.
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