Lilleborg AS is a major

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

and

cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for beauty, aesthetic, hygiene, hygienic, Function (engineering), function ...

article company in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, owned by Solenis, and formerly owned by the

Orkla Group Orkla ASA is a Norwegian conglomerate operating in Europe, Asia and the US. At present, Orkla operates in the branded consumer goods, aluminium products and financial investment sectors. Orkla ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and its he ...

. It was established in 1833, and was one of the first companies in Norway to start manufacturing brand name products. It currently operates three factories in Norway, and employs a total working staff of 595.

History

Originally a

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...

, established in 1833 on the banks of the Aker river in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Lilleborg expanded in 1842 to manufacturing hygiene products with the opening of ''"sæbesyderiet"'', the "soap boilery". Here the company's manufacture of soft soap and bathroom soaps took place. In 1897, it became an ''

aksjeselskap is the Norwegian term for a stock-based company. It is usually abbreviated AS, historically often written as A/S. An AS is always a limited company, i.e. the owners cannot be held liable for any debt beyond the stock capital. Public compan ...

'', and changed its name to A/S Lilleborg Fabrikker. In the final years of the 19th century, the company was offering a broad range of

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

, bathroom, household and soft soaps. It was also the largest company of its sort in Norway, with more than 100 employees on roll. At the end of the 1920s, Lilleborg had developed a close relationship with

Denofa Denofa AS, established in 1912 as De Nordiske Fabriker A/S (De-No-Fa for short), is a Norwegian industrial company. It has produced oil, proteins and fatty acid (lecithin) for the food processing industry, the fodder industry and the pharmaceutic ...

, a

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

producing company based in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

. This culminated in 1930 with an agreement of cooperation between Lilleborg, Denofa, and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

company

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

(later

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

), which had large ownership interests in the companies. As part of this agreement, Lilleborg acquired ownership and production of several well-known Lever Brothers brands,

Sunlight Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...

being perhaps the foremost. Focusing strongly on brands throughout the 1930s, the company launched several of their strongest-selling brands of today in the years before the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, including Lano, Solidox, Blenda and

Lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...

. Unilever decided to sell their stocks in the company in 1958, but agreed upon another cooperation agreement which was to last for 20 years. This agreement was subsequently reformed on two occasions, and is still in effect - and will be until 2014. The following year, Denofa and Lilleborg

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

to form ''A/S Denofa og Lilleborg Fabriker'', which soon became a major player in the Norwegian hygiene market. The company then, in 1973, acquired Goma fabrikker, which in turned owned (amongst others) A/S Ello in

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...

. In 1996, Lilleborg and Denofa split once more into two separate entities, in which Denofa continued the cooking oil activities, while Lilleborg was evolved into a pure brand-name manufacturer. In relation with this split, Lilleborg was reorganized as a company under ''Orkla Brands'', a division of the

, whilst Denofa was placed under ''Orkla Chemistry''. In 1997, the activity by the Aker river ceased, while a new

laundry detergent Laundry detergent is a type of detergent (cleaning agent) used for cleaning dirty laundry (clothes). Laundry detergent is manufactured in powder (washing powder) and liquid form. While powdered and liquid detergents hold roughly equal share of ...

factory was opened in

Ski Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins c ...

Brands

Lilleborg holds and/or produces the following brand name products:

Personal hygiene

* Lano *

(hand soap) * Dr Greve (shower gels, deodorant, hand soap) *

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

Axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

* Sterilan (deodorant) *

Define A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definit ...

(hair care) *

Finesse In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a type of card play technique which will enable a player to win an additional trick or tricks should there be a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponents. The player a ...

(hair care) *

Sunsilk Sunsilk is a British hair care brand produced by the company Unilever. The brand was introduced in 1954 in the UK and available in most countries globally. History Sunsilk was launched in the United Kingdom in 1954. and in the same year it ...

(hair care) * Vaseline Intensive Care (skin care) * LdB / Lait de Beauté (skin care) * Solidox (toothpaste, gum) * Spenol

Laundry

Blenda Blenda is the heroine of a Swedish legend () from Småland. Blenda led the rural women of Värend in an attack on a pillaging Danish army and annihilated the invaders. Legend According to the legend, the events took place in the time of Al ...

Omo Omo or OMO may refer to: Geography Ethiopia * Omo River (Ethiopia), in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin and namesake for all the topics below * Omo Nada, one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia ...

Milo Milo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Milo (magazine), ''Milo'' (magazine), a strength sports magazine * ''Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze'', a 2011 children's novel by Alan Silberberg * Milo (video game), ''Milo'' (video game) * Milo ( ...

(detergent and fabric softener) *

Comfort Comfort is a state of physical or psychological ease, often characterized by the absence of hardship. Individuals experiencing a lack of comfort are typically described as uncomfortable or in discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort can b ...

(fabric softener)

Household

Zalo
(manual dishwashing) *

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

(dishwashing) * Svint (soap-added steel wool) * Jif *

Salmi Salmi may refer to: Places * Salmi (rural locality), a rural locality (a settlement) in the Republic of Karelia, Russia * Salmi (air base), a former Soviet air base People * Albert Salmi (1928–1990), American actor * Hazel Salmi (1893–1986 ...

(ammonia-based cleaning fluid) * Klorin (chlorine bleach/disinfectant) * Krystal (soft soap)

Other

Lypsyl Lypsyl is a brand of moisturising lip balm owned by Lornamead. Marketing rights in the UK and Ireland are owned by Alliance Pharma since 2013. It is packaged in a small, cylindrical, twist action tube and is applied like a lipstick. Lypsyl moist ...

(lip balm)

References

{{nofootnotes, date=December 2010

External links

Company website
(in Norwegian)