Spanish Coren Group, which runs an over 750 million euro foodstuffs business across Europe has decided to sell its Romanian operations, a charcuterie import and distribution company and a meat processing factory in Giurgiu County.
The Spanish have authorised international consulting firm Larive to find a buyer, with the two companies appraised at 3 million euros during the sale process. Coren developed its Romanian business together with a Spanish entrepreneur, Alberto Mas.
The companies held by the two investors in Romania are Carnig SA, the charcuterie factory and Coren Romania SRL, the trade company.
Coren Romania SRL is the owner of Carnig SA, and is in its turn held by Coren Group – 55% and Alberto Mas – 45%.
“The Spanish investors decided to exit from the 2 already mature businesses and to enter in a new field of activity. Larive is assigned to prepare the 2 companies and to sell them. Expected value of the combined deals is of 3 million euros,” Larive Romania says on its website, without revealing the names of the Spanish investors, though.
Neither did Daniel Ionescu, Larive Romania’s managing partner, care to provide further details on the possible transaction.
“I know investors want to sell, but I am not at liberty to tell you more on this because it is a shareholder problem,” Coren Romania’s director Florin Solcan told Ziarul Financiar. He says the factory in Giurgiu logged 70bn ROL (nearly 2 million euro) turnover in 2003 and its market share was about 1.8%, while the sales of the two companies amounted to some 110bn ROL (3 million euros) last year. Carnig SA in 2002 logged 53bn ROL (1.7 million euro) turnover and its market share was 0.15%.
Meat industry sources say one of the reasons why Coren chose to back out of the Romanian market is the black market surge over the last 12 months, which hurts the business of the major players.
“Coren is neither a force to be reckoned with on the Romanian market nor a member of the Romanian Meat Association, for which reason I know nothing of this deal. There is a resettling of the producers in this industry in progress on the market at the moment, though,” says Sorin Minea, Romanian Meat Association chairman. He says the acquisition rush in the Romanian meat industry will become much more serious this year, mentioning US foodstuffs giant Smithfield that has recently bought 70% in the former swine breeding facility ComTim and 15% in Campofrio Alimentacion, which operates though Tabco-Campofrio on the Romanian market.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro ; stelian.negrea@zf.ro