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One of the leading retail companies in the Nordic region, ICA AB today (April 2) announced the opening of its Asian regional headquarters, ICA Global Sourcing Ltd in Hong Kong. ICA AB is also setting up a sourcing and quality control operation in Asia to get full control of its value chain and to reduce its purchasing prices by at least 10-15%.
ICA AB chose Hong Kong for its regional headquarters, because the city is located at the heart of its expanding Asian operations. Furthermore, Hong Kong has a pro-business environment and all the major business competencies to run a successful office including management, trading, sourcing, quality assurance, logistics and IT infrastructure.
In his opening speech, Chief Executive Officer and President of ICA AB, Mr Kenneth Bengtsson, said 䩕This investment is a way for us to further consolidate our quality efforts. It brings us closer to the market and gives us even better control of the whole production and buying chain. It is a very exciting development which we are looking forward to in relation to the opening of this office.蒅
Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mr Mike Rowse, welcomed the opening of ICA AB﷿s regional headquarters. Mr Rowse said 䩕We believe that ICA AB has made the right choice to locate its regional headquarters in our city. Setting up in Hong Kong allows ICA AB to closely monitor its sourcing facilities, quality control and partners in Asia, while benefiting from Hong Kong﷿s international platform and business services. I am confident that ICA Global Sourcing Ltd. will grow to become an integral part of the ICA AB business.蒅
ICA AB is one of the leading retail companies in the Nordic region, with around 2,300 of its own and retailer-owned stores in Sweden, Norway and the Baltic countries. The Group includes the business units ICA Sverige, ICA Norge and Rimi Baltic. ICA AB also offers financial services to Swedish customers through ICA Banken.
Invest Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government department charged with encouraging and facilitating inward investment into the city by providing the support needed to establish or expand a business presence here. For more information, please visit the website at www.InvestHK.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:01
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