The story
'Wessanen en Laan' was founded in 1765 in Wormerveer by Adriaan Wessanen and Dirk Laan to trade in ‘Mustard, Canary and other seeds’. The company flourished as new uses were found for all sorts of seeds. It was helped by the contemporary popularity for keeping caged birds, particularly canaries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the landscape around the Zaan river was dominated by merchants’ houses, their warehouses and, most distinctively, their windmills. In the pre-industrial age, the windmills functioned as sophisticated processing plants, using wind power to crush, grind and mix all manner of ingredients.
Wessanen was by the start of the 20th century a large company, and following the award of royal warrants it was now known as NV Wessanen Koninklijke Fabrieken (royal factories). With a diversified global sales market, it was able to survive war, tariff barriers and the demise of colonialism. But it was still a typically Dutch company, with production facilities on the Zaan River. In 2018, the company had annual sales of over 600 million euros. France is the largest sales market, more than half of sales are realized here. The Netherlands' share is less than 10%. It employed 1,360 people as of December 31, 2018. At year-end 2018, the market capitalization was €612 million (2017: €1307 million). Harborside, owned by American Charlie Jobson, has been the largest shareholder for years with a minority stake of 20-25%. In March 2019, French investor PAI, after coordinating with Jobson, made an offer of €11.50 per Wessanen share.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ecotone (company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4