History

The roots of the group go back to 1856, the year that the two Catz brothers opened their first shop in Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. Headquartered in Rotterdam, Catz International is today the leading trading house in spices in the world and is now for many years the group's most successful subsidiary.

Rubber Cultuur Maatschappij 'Amsterdam' or RCMA, the predecessor of Acomo, was established in 1908 and was officially listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the same year.

Till 1957, the company was among the largest plantation companies in Europe, owning and operating mainly rubber and palm oil plantations in Indonesia and elsewhere. After the loss of most of the plantations in the postcolonial era, RCMA was the object of a successful reverse take-over by Catz International in 1982. All the remaining plantations were valued at 1 Dutch Guilder in the books and the group took a fresh start as an international commodity trading house.

In the following years, RCMA expanded and diversified its trading activities, mainly through acquisitions. In 1985, L. Wurfbain & Co (Amsterdam) joined the group, one of the oldest (1897) rubber trading companies in Holland. In 1998, Wurfbain merged with the leading rubber trader in Asia, Singapore Tong Teik, to form today's largest independent rubber trading house worId-wide.

In 1984, RCMA acquired the Horneman group, a trader in plastic raw materials. After 10 years of successful growth, this company was the object of an MBO in 1993.

In 2000, a new name was adopted to reflect the diversification of the activities and the dynamic strategy. Today, Acomo is a modern, 150 years young organisation, continuing the centuries old tradition of the Dutch merchants. Based on the latest technologies and communication tools, we put our experience and knowledge at the service of our customers to bridge their needs.