Operating history

Exporting the Tetra Classic: Italy, 1960s

AB Tetra Pak was established in Lund, Sweden, in 1951. In May of that year, the new packaging system
was presented to the press, and in 1952, the first filling machine producing 100 ml cream tetrahedrons
was delivered to Lundaortens Mejeriförening, a local dairy.[18] In subsequent years, tetrahedron
packages became more and more common in Swedish grocery stores, and in 1954, the first machine
producing 500 ml milk packages was sold to a Stockholm dairy.[18] That same year the first machine was
exported to Hamburg, Germany, soon to be followed by France (1954), Italy (1956), Switzerland (1957)
and later the Soviet Union (1959) and Japan (1962).[19]

Rausing strove to improve the Tetra Classic system, beset with many technical problems during the
1950s, and spent enormous amounts on development. The different projects – the tetrahedron, the
aseptic packaging technology, Tetra Brik – all demanded large resources and the company had financial
troubles well into the 1960s.[20] Tetra Pak's commercial breakthrough did not arrive until the mid-1960s
with the new Tetra Brik package, introduced in 1963, and the development of the aseptic technology.
[16] To liberate capital, Åkerlund & Rausing was sold in 1965 while AB Tetra Pak was retained.[18]

International expansion had begun in the 1960s, when the first production plant outside of Sweden was
established in Mexico in 1960, soon to be followed by another in the United States in 1962.[18] In 1962,
the first Tetra Classic Aseptic machine outside of Europe was installed in Lebanon.[18] The late-1960s
and 1970s saw a global expansion of the company, mainly due to the new Tetra Brik Aseptic package,
launched in 1969, which opened up new markets in the developing world and sparked an explosion in
sales.[10]

Mergers and acquisitions

In 1981, Tetra Pack relocated its corporate headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland, for tax reasons, but
retained all research in Lund.[10] For the equivalent of US$2.5 billion, Tetra Pak acquired Alfa-Laval AB
in 1991, a Swedish company producing industrial and agricultural equipment and milk separators, world-
leading in its industry, in what was at the time Sweden's largest takeover.[10][21] Since the deal allowed
Tetra Pak to integrate Alfa Laval processing know-how, the merger made it possible for Tetra Pak to
offer packaging and processing solutions. The deal drew anti-competitive scrutiny from the European
Commission, but it was approved after various concessions from both companies.[10][22] After the
merger with Alfa Laval, Tetra Pak announced plans to return its headquarters to Sweden, and in 1993
Tetra Laval Group was created with dual headquarters in Lund and Lausanne. Alfa Laval's liquid
processing unit was absorbed into Tetra Pak and the unit specialising in dairy production machinery was
organised separately as Alfa Laval Agri.[21] Alfa Laval Agri was later renamed DeLaval, after Alfa Laval's
founder Gustaf de Laval, and is still a part of the Tetra Laval group.[23] The part of Alfa Laval that was
not directly linked to Tetra Pak's activities – heat exchangers and separation equipment among others –
was sold in 2000 to Swedish finance group Industri Kapital. In 2001, Tetra Laval acquired the French
plastic packaging group Sidel. The merger was prohibited by the European Commission on the grounds
that both Tetra Pak and Sidel were market leaders in their fields and operated in related business areas.
[24][25] The European Court of Justice eventually ruled in favour for Tetra Laval in a high-profile case.
[26] The Tetra Laval Group is controlled by the holding company Tetra Laval International, whose b