What Interholco does

Interholco AG is a Swiss-headquartered (Baar) privately held producer and international supplier of African tropical hardwood, founded in 1962 and operating primarily through its wholly-owned subsidiary IFO (Industrie Forestière d'Ouessant) in the Republic of Congo. The company manages a 1.16 million hectare FSC-certified forest concession in the Congo Basin and runs vertically integrated operations spanning sawmilling, kiln drying, finger-jointing, lamination, and planing, producing a portfolio of over 60 hardwood species across logs, boules, lumber, decking (Tali, Kanda, Azobé, Cumaru, Ipe), and engineered laminated scantlings (Bosse, Kosipo) with KOMO and CTB-LCA certifications.

The business sells B2B on a quote-based, made-to-order model to wood importers, distributors, and industrial end-users (construction companies, architects, builders) across more than 50 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and Oceania. Notable reference customers include the United Nations (UN City Copenhagen waterfront), Aarhus University/NAVITAS in Denmark, Global Timber, and the Ovation Hub development in Cincinnati. Pricing is determined through direct sales relationships rather than published rates, and the company actively participates in industry trade events such as Carrefour International du Bois.

Interholco's competitive position rests on triple certification (FSC, PEFC, PAFC), compliance with EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and CITES, and a sustained #1 ranking in the ZSL SPOTT ESG Transparency Assessment from 2017 through 2025. Sustainability is central to the value proposition: harvesting at only 0.7 trees per hectare once every 30 years, maintaining 300,000+ hectares under protection, and supporting 18,500+ forest inhabitants across 80+ villages. The company reports annual sales of approximately EUR 65 million (2019 disclosure) with roughly 1,000 employees, and its marketing channels emphasize sustainability storytelling across web, LinkedIn, YouTube, and sustainability reports rather than paid acquisition.

Name

Interholco

Legal name

Interholco AG

Website

https://interholco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1962

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Interholco AG is a Swiss-headquartered producer and global supplier of sustainably harvested African tropical hardwood (logs, lumber, decking, laminated scantlings), managing a 1.16 million hectare FSC-certified concession in the Republic of Congo and selling B2B to importers and industrial end-users in over 50 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tropical Hardwood Lumber and Engineered Wood Products

NAICS

Wood Product Manufacturing (321), Timber Tract Operations (11311), Lumber, Plywood, Millwork, and Wood Panel Merchant Wholesalers (42331), Engineered Wood Member Manufacturing (321215), Veneer, Plywood, and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing (3212)

SIC

Lumber & Wood Products (No Furniture) (2400), Wholesale-Lumber, Plywood, Millwork & Wood Panels (5031), Forestry (800), Millwood, Veneer, Plywood, & Structural Wood Members (2430)

akta.pro primary industry

Forest Products Import/Export & Commodity Merchants (IMAMAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hardwood Lumber Distribution & Trading (IMAMAIAB), Engineered Wood Products Distribution (LVL, I-joists, Glulam, CLT) (IMAMAIAD), Timber Procurement & Wood Dealer/Timber Buying Services (IMAMAAAF)

Keywords

• Tropical hardwood products
• Sustainable forest management
• Engineered laminated scantlings
• FSC certified lumber
• Hardwood decking supply

Headquarters

HQ city

Baar

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Wood Products Sales: Sale of high-quality African hardwood products including logs, lumber, decking, and laminated scantlings. Products are sustainably harvested from FSC-certified forest concession and sold to international clientele including importers and industrial end-users across 50+ countries.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Interholco produces and supplies African hardwood wood products — logs, boules, lumber, decking, and engineered laminated scantlings — harvested from its own FSC-certified 1.16 million hectare forest concession in the Republic of Congo via subsidiary IFO. Products are sold to wood importers, distributors, and industrial end-users (construction, marine, civil engineering, joinery) in more than 50 countries, with custom dimensions and quote-based B2B pricing.

Product overview

Interholco is a global provider of African wood products offering a vertically integrated portfolio spanning from raw logs to finished engineered wood products. The core product line includes Logs (unprocessed tree trunks), Boules (sawn wood), Lumber (processed timber in various dimensions), Decking (outdoor hardwood boards), and Laminated Scantlings (engineered finger-jointed and glue laminated products). All products originate from sustainably managed FSC-certified natural tropical forests in the Congo Basin, Republic of Congo, with over 60 wood species available including Tali, Kanda, Azobe, Kosipo, and Wenge.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Logs Unprocessed tree trunks harvested from sustainably managed FSC-certified forests in the Congo Basin, Republic of Congo, supplied to industrial buyers.
• Boules Sawn wood products in plank or board form, processed from harvested logs at Interholco's sawmills.
• Lumber Processed timber in various dimensions, available green or kiln dried, with consistent quality grading for construction and joinery applications.
• Decking Hardwood decking boards made from naturally durable African species such as Tali, Kanda, Azobé, Cumaru, and Ipe, designed for outdoor applications exposed to weather conditions.
• Laminated Scantlings Engineered wood products including finger-jointed and glue-laminated scantlings, made from African hardwood species such as Bosse and Kosipo, that enhance wood properties for demanding interior and exterior applications. KOMO and CTB-LCA certified.

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)coreOthersFSC certification for forest management and chain of custody. Interholco holds FSC Forest Management certificate (IFO-898195) and FSC CoC certificates for both IFO and Interholco operations. 100% of wood from managed forest is FSC certified.
• PEFCcoreOthersPEFC certification for sustainable forest management and chain of custody. Interholco holds PEFC CoC certificates.
• PAFCcoreOthersPAFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Forest Management certification for Congo operations.
• Fair&Precious (ATIBT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Fair&Precious initiative launched by ATIBT to increase market recognition of sustainable hardwood from Africa based on technical, environmental and sustainability considerations.
• Zoological Society of London (ZSL) SPOTTminorOthersSPOTT (Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit) platform evaluates and ranks timber companies on ESG transparency. Interholco consistently ranks first.
• Natural Capital CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInterholco contributed case study to Natural Capital Coalition's Forest Products Sector Guide, assessing economic value of sustainable forest management vs conservation and palm oil production.
• Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWCS conducted wildlife and human impact survey in Ngombe-Ntokou-Pikounda area including Interholco's forest concession. Study found 2.7 times more large mammals in FSC-certified forests.
• Odzala National ParkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEco-guards receive regular training in close cooperation with neighboring Odzala National Park. Collaborative wildlife protection efforts.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Danzer Group: European hardwood specialist with active operations in the Congo Basin producing sliced veneer, lumber, and engineered wood from FSC-certified African forests; competes directly with Interholco for FSC-certified African hardwood supply and customer relationships.
• April Group (Royal Golden Eagle): Major Asian-based tropical forestry, pulp, and paper group operating in Indonesia and elsewhere; explicitly cited as #2 in the 2017 SPOTT ESG assessment behind Interholco, making it one of the most directly comparable broad tropical-timber companies on sustainability metrics.
• Precious Woods: Switzerland-based tropical hardwood producer operating FSC-certified concessions in Africa and South America with sawmilling and engineered wood operations; shares Interholco's Swiss HQ, sustainable-tropical-timber positioning, and engineered product expansion strategy.
• Groupe Rougier: French-headquartered tropical timber group with FSC-certified African concessions and global wood trading operations; closest comparable to Interholco's vertically integrated forest-management-to-distribution model in the same species, geographies, and certification regime.
• Holzwerke Vieler: German hardwood importer and processor supplying European construction, decking, and industrial customers with tropical and temperate species; competes with Interholco in the same European wholesale hardwood channels with similar certified-timber and engineered-product positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Stora Enso: Large European forest products incumbent producing sawn timber, engineered wood (CLT, LVL, glulam), and wood-based panels; overlaps with Interholco in wood products distribution but operates at vastly greater scale across Northern European (not tropical) forests with a much broader product portfolio.
• Weyerhaeuser: Large North American timberland owner and wood products manufacturer with engineered wood and lumber businesses overlapping with Interholco's product mix, but operating at much greater scale and on wholly different (temperate) fiber sources.
• UPM-Kymmene: Major Finnish forest products incumbent with global operations in timber, plywood, and engineered wood serving construction and distribution customers comparable to Interholco's distributor base, though focused on boreal rather than tropical species.

Others

• ATIBT (Fair&Precious): International Tropical Timber Technical Association, a Paris-based industry body promoting sustainable tropical timber and managing the Fair&Precious initiative of which Interholco is a partner; relevant as a peer through shared species and certification ecosystem rather than direct competition.
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): Global non-profit certification body whose FSC standards underpin Interholco's triple-certification stack and competitive moat; included as a peer because the FSC framework is the regulatory and brand infrastructure Interholco's business model depends on.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCW3eD8ixDikQRXFB3IY6G2Q
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/interholco-ag/?originalSubdomain=ch

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Interholco