Who owns Blue Band (DR Congo)?
Blue Band (DR Congo) is made and sold by Marsavco (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) under licence; Marsavco does not own the name.[1] The Blue Band name is owned by Upfield.
Evidence: Marsavco S.A. — À propos: notre histoire, nos usines, sociétés du groupe; et Nos marques. Last checked .
Key facts
- Licensed to
- Marsavco S.A. reported
- Headquarters
- 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa
- Origin
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Category
- Food › Dairy & alternatives › Butter
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Blue Band (DR Congo)
Marsavco makes and sells Blue Band margarine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in original, butter-taste and chocolate-taste versions, in 20g, 25g and 50g sachets and 225g, 450g and 900g tubs, and builds school-year and children's nutrition campaigns around it in Kinshasa. The brand itself is not Marsavco's: Blue Band was a Unilever margarine, sold with the rest of Unilever's spreads business to Upfield in 2018, and Marsavco's own link to it dates from the decades when it was Unilever's Congolese subsidiary, before the Rawji Group bought the company in 2002.
Ownership timeline of Blue Band (DR Congo)
Where Blue Band (DR Congo) sits in Marsavco
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Marsavco ownership tree →
See the full Marsavco brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by Marsavco
Marsavco controls 5 brands on Brandtree, 3 of them in food.
Also in food
Other brands in butter, and who owns them
The 51 brands in butter on Brandtree belong to 30 owners. The largest is KKR, with 7.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Becel | KKR | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Breakstone's | Dairy Farmers of America | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Fleurial | Cevital Agro-Industrie | 🇩🇿 Algeria |
| Familia | Lesieur Cristal | 🇲🇦 Morocco |
| Clover | Saputo | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Mavesa | Empresas Polar | 🇻🇪 Venezuela |
| Anchor | Lactalis | 🇫🇷 France |
| Neo Soft | Megmilk Snow Brand | 🇯🇵 Japan |
About the owner: Marsavco
Marsavco is a privately held company headquartered in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, founded in 1922.
Marsavco is a Congolese manufacturer of cooking oil, margarine, soap, detergents and personal care products, created in Kinshasa in January 1922 as SAVCO, the Savonnerie Congolaise, making soap from palm and palm kernel oil. It added edible oils in 1956, synthetic detergents and toilet soaps in 1961 and powder detergents and toothpaste in 1963, and took the name Marsavco when it began making margarine; after the country was renamed Zaïre in 1971 the "co" of Congo was reread as Cosmétiques. It belonged to the Unilever group for most of the twentieth century, and when Unilever ended its Congolese operations in 2000 the Rawji Group bought every share in February 2002 and became its sole owner. It now runs a 300-tonne-a-day refinery in Kinshasa with its own blow-moulding, carton and HDPE jerrycan plants, a soap works and a detergent packing plant, and a warehouse in the Kampemba district of Lubumbashi. Its sister companies in the Rawji Group include the trading house Beltexco, the Yamaha distributor Prodimpex and Rawbank.
🇳🇱 Blue Band (DR Congo) and other Dutch brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 68 brands that began in the Netherlands. 39 of them (57%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Blue Band (DR Congo) among them.
- Albert Heijn — Ahold Delhaize 🇳🇱
- Aviko — Royal Cosun 🇳🇱
- Becel — KKR 🇺🇸
- Campina — FrieslandCampina 🇳🇱
- Conimex — Paulig 🇫🇮
- Fruit-tella — Perfetti Van Melle 🇳🇱
Frequently asked questions
Who makes Blue Band (DR Congo)?
Marsavco makes and sells Blue Band (DR Congo) under a licensing agreement.
Does Marsavco own Blue Band (DR Congo)?
No. Marsavco holds a licence to make and sell Blue Band (DR Congo), which is not the same as owning it.
Where did Blue Band (DR Congo) come from?
Blue Band (DR Congo) originated in the Netherlands.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Marsavco S.A. — À propos: notre histoire, nos usines, sociétés du groupe; et Nos marques — Marsavco S.A., Official document; retrieved 20 September 2026.
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