The year is 1940, and World War II casts long shadows over all of Europe.

My great-grandfather Gunnar Haagensen had since 1921 run the two Ford factories in Latvia as a respected and seasoned businessman.

To avoid the Red Army, Gunnar left the two factories he had spent nearly 20 years building and running, and fled home to Denmark.

Since then, Haagensen has specialized in dynamic and static sealing elements.

The technology and possibilities are of course entirely different today than they were almost 80 years ago.

Through 4 generations, the company has developed significantly and grown every single year with only a dip during the financial crisis. For my part, it was an extremely tough start-up, but results I am proud of and could not have achieved without my skilled colleagues and our fantastic customers. Thank you!

I am truly proud of how we have developed from only being a distributor to also becoming a technical house and gasket manufacturer.

How we have obtained our ISO certifications, expanded with a storage tower and automated inventory management.

Expanded with a QA unit and now a test center on the premises.

How we have implemented a new ERP system five times and not least how the staff has steadily grown over the years. It has been a true pleasure.

But in a market that is constantly regulated and where competition intensifies, it is crucial for me that we can continue to be competitive and grow.

Especially the latter is difficult when we have been out of space for a long time. Therefore, it is time we think about new adventures.

It is therefore my pleasure to announce that as of today, we have been acquired by M Seals Group, which is part of the Diploma family.

M-Seals is a great fit for us culturally, as we share values and ambitions and place our colleagues and customers at the highest priority.

We will therefore continue to operate as an agile company and continue our cooperation with customers and suppliers as we always have.

At the same time, we will benefit from being part of a larger company and the commercial opportunities this entails. Finally, as part of a larger group and with the support of M-Seals/Diploma, we will be better positioned to develop talents and create development opportunities for our colleagues.

It has required many considerations to take this step, many indeed, but I am confident that it is the right move for Haagensen A/S and I look forward to the next adventure.

An adventure that I am sure old Gunnar would also have been proud of.

Thank you.
Lasse Haagensen.