Ondine becomes part of the Naxos group (09.06.2009)


Ondine is proud to announce a change in ownership to Naxos International. The leading Finnish classical recording label remains an independent unit within the Naxos group organization and its release policy will remain unaffected. Ondine will continue to pursue its mission to represent the very best of Finnish performing artists and composers combined with working with top level international artists and orchestras.

"I'm extremely excited that Naxos was keen to become our owner," said Reijo Kiilunen, Managing Director of Ondine. "Naxos shares our solid commitment to classical music. Ondine will benefit from its extensive and professional international organization and distribution network as well as its highly advanced digital business models. In addition, joining forces makes us the strongest classical player in the domestic Finnish market. All this made me realise, that from a number of interesting alternatives, Naxos was the best choice of owner in facing all the challenges within our business world."

Commented Klaus Heymann, founder and owner of Naxos: "For a long time, Ondine has been one of my favourite labels and I am delighted that it is now part of our group. There is very little duplication in terms of repertoire and the label has a very clear identity which makes it a perfect fit. I think Ondine will benefit from being distributed physically and digitally worldwide by our subsidiaries and qualified third-party distributors. I look forward to working with Reijo on strengthening the label's presence in the international market."

Commented Håkan Lagerqvist, CEO of Naxos Sweden and new chairman of Ondine: "This is a very welcome addition to our bouquet of Nordic labels owned by Naxos, already including Proprius, Swedish Society and others. With Ondine, we've worked with distribution in Sweden, Denmark and Norway for some years now and we look forward to taking this cooperation to a new level both in the Nordic territory and internationally. I have known Reijo for many years and I have the highest respect for his competence and the way he has made Ondine such a strong brand. This is also a statement that we strongly believe in the future of high quality recorded classical music."

Previous owner Moskito Group, the Finnish market leader in the production of television programmes and commercial films, divested all of its shares in Ondine. Together with Monster (Norway) and Gong (Denmark), Moskito Group is part of The New Black group, one of the leading production entities in the Nordics. "As our strategy is focused on television programme production and business areas closely linked to it, it was quite natural for us to divest this non-core business," says Juha Ponteva, CEO of Moskito Group. "Ondine is a groundbreaking and unique label. We are pleased to have found a new home for the company. I believe Naxos is well positioned to offer Ondine an environment where it can utilise its strong profile."

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