Niemetz has a history of more than 120 years and was insolvent. The takeover by the Romanian company came as a lifeline for the maker of the chocolate-coated marshmallows Schwedenbomben (“Swedish bombs”).
The deal was worth EUR5.25 million according to Austrian Times, which includes Niemetz’s debts and Heidi promised to keep production in Austria and expand exports of the brand.
“By this purchase, we enter the Austrian market,” says Erwin Vondenhoff, general manager of Heidi Chocolat, in a news release posted on the company’s website.
The deal enables Meinl, which owns the only two large chocolate plants in Romania with a market share put at 20% and EUR45 million revenue, to take its first regional expansion step. Meinl family owns Kandia Dulce and Heidi Chocolat in Romania.
Erwin Vondenhoff said his company will invest to expand the Niemetz brand and that Heidi Chocolat management intends to reach an agreement with as many employees as possible regarding their continued employment with Niemetz under Heidi management.
“We will ensure the future of this brand by making the necessary investments in the production facilities, sales, marketing and organization”, continued Vondenhoff.
Heidi did not provide any comment to ZF on the deal by the time the story was ready for posting and did not say whether it planned more such deals or not, either.
Before this deal, Meinl only had a chocolate production business in Romania of all the countries it operates in.
Its officials have recently said that the shareholders are interested in a long-term development in Romania along with the development of a regional business by acquisitions and operations in other Central and Eastern European countries.
Heidi Chocolat’s acquisition was Meinl’s fifth deal in ten years. It arrived in Romania in 1997 when it bought into Bucharest-based Excelent producer. Its most important deal, however, is the Kandia brand. Meinl bought Kandia in 2003 for EUR5.3 million, sold it to Cadbury for EUR100 million in 2007 and bought it back for less than EUR20 million in 2010, according to the estimates at the time.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)