Swedish injection moulding company Rosti (Malmö; www.rosti.com) is to split into two separate groups, although it will remain under the ownership of investment company Nordstjernan (Stockholm / Sweden; www.nordstjernan.se).

The present automotive division, which has four manufacturing sites in the UK, will form its own group as Rosti Automotive. The remaining part of the Swedish company will continue as Rosti Group and develop its business in the packaging, consumer and professional appliances, business machines and life science market segments. Both groups will start operating independently with immediate effect; however, the full legal separation is not anticipated to be completed until June 2017.

Explaining the reason behind the split, chairman of Rosti’s board Mats Heiman said the challenges, opportunities, markets and customers are very different within the two businesses and the separation will allow both companies to focus on their unique agendas and accelerate their development initiatives.

The current CEO of Rosti Group, Brendan Colgan, will retain his position. He commented: “I see a very promising outlook for 2017 and onwards. We will focus on how our businesses in Asia can take additional steps to grow in that region, both organically and through acquisitions. Our businesses in Europe will continue to develop opportunities to grow their offering and customer base.”

Joachim Magnusson, who joined as European vice president of Rosti Automotive in 2016, will become CEO of the automotive group. Roar Isaksen, who has held various leading positions with Swedish carmaker Volvo, will be chairman of the Rosti Automotive board.