Swedish Match is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 company based in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 that makes snus

Snus

Snus , or Swedish snuff, is a moist powder tobacco product originated from a variant of dry snuff in the early 19th century in Sweden, consumed by placing it under the lip for extended periods of time. The precursor of snus, the dry form of snuff inhaled through the nose, was introduced in Europe...

, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, cigars (both handmade and machine-made), Red Man

Red Man

Red Man is a leading brand of chewing tobacco in the United States, produced since 1904. Red Man has traditionally come as leaf tobacco, in contrast to twist chewing tobacco or the ground tobacco used in snuff, and became a leader in that form of oral/dental/mouth tobacco. It is made by the...

 Chewing Tobacco, dipping tobacco, match

Match

A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...

es and lighters. It was founded as Svenska Tändsticksaktiebolaget by Ivar Kreuger

Ivar Kreuger

Ivar Kreuger was a Swedish civil engineer, financier, entrepreneur and industrialist. In 1908 Kreuger co-founded the construction company Kreuger & Toll Byggnads AB which specialized in new building techniques. By aggressive investments and innovative financial instruments he built a global match...

 in 1917 in Jönköping

Jönköping

-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...

 (also known as "City of the matches"). The company changed its name in 1980.

By expanding through acquisition of national monopolies and merging with the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 company Bryant and May

Bryant and May

For the Bryant and May series of crime mystery books, see the author Christopher Fowler.Bryant and May was a United Kingdom company created in the mid-nineteenth century specifically to make matches. Their original Bryant and May Factory was located in Bow, London...

, in 1926, it became the world's largest match manufacturer.

In the U.S., Swedish Match produces and distributes the Timber Wolf and Red Man

Red Man

Red Man is a leading brand of chewing tobacco in the United States, produced since 1904. Red Man has traditionally come as leaf tobacco, in contrast to twist chewing tobacco or the ground tobacco used in snuff, and became a leader in that form of oral/dental/mouth tobacco. It is made by the...

 brands of snuff

Snuff

Snuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...

. The company also expanded into the United States premium cigar business by purchasing General Cigar Company Inc.

General Cigar Company

General Cigar Company is one of the largest manufacturers of cigars in the world. It has been owned by Swedish Match since 2005.-Company history:...

 (producer of non-Cuban versions of Macanudo, Partagas and Punch) from Edgar Cullman and El Credito Cigar Company (producer of La Gloria Cubana and El Rico Habano) from Ernesto Perez-Carrillo

Ernesto Perez-Carrillo

Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Jr., born in 1952, is a Cuban American master cigar maker who resides in Miami and the Dominican Republic.-Career:Ernesto founded the El Credito Cigar Company in Miami, which produces La Gloria Cubana and El Rico Habano cigars...

. More recently, General snus is being test marketed at select tobacco retailers.
They also Market the Ventti brand of cigarette-rolling papers in Australia (which is the second most available brand of rolling papers in non-tobacconist stores and supermarkets.)

In October 2010 Swedish Match acquired 49% of Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Scandinavian Tobacco Group is one of Denmark's largest international companies and the parent company of a number of subsidiaries.STG's primary business is production and sales of cigars, pipe tobacco, rolling tobacco and tobacco bits...

, merging its cigar, pipe tobacco and accessories operations (except its United States mass market

Mass market

The mass market is a general business term describing the largest group of consumers for a specified industry product. It is the opposite extreme of the term niche market.-General:...

 cigar brands) into the firm.

Expansion in Southeast Asia

In 1999, Swedish Match signed an agreement to acquire 40 percent of Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

's largest producer of matches, P.T. Java Match Factory (P.T. Jamafac). The company has production units in Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

 and Bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...

.

Cooperation

Cooperation

Cooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...

 between Swedish Match and P.T. Jamafac, which began in 1971 and expanded in 1996, has now been formalized in a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 agreement aimed at strengthening Swedish Match's position in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

.