 However, ASF was unsuccessful, and the company soon had large financial problems and was liquidated in 1920.Astra was bailed out and acquired by the Swedish government through its monopoly liquor-producing company Vin- och spritcentralen, with the intention to form a national monopoly for pharmaceutical production.These plans met with resistance, and therefore a Swedish merchant, Erik Kistner, formed a consortium which bought debt-ridden Astra back from the government for a symbolic price of one krona.