The world's largest manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products Barry Callebaut acquires one of the main producers of raw materials for confectioners in Russia - Inforum Group. The deal will allow the buyer to strengthen its position in the Russian market, which is now growing faster than the global one. Financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed. The transaction will require the approval of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and must be closed before the end of the year.
Barry Callebaut has a market capitalization of € 11.28B (Bloomberg). Inforum is one of Russia's largest manufacturers of raw materials and semi-finished products for the confectionery, dairy and bakery industries. In 2017, the group's sales reached 5.1B RUR ($ 76.54M).
Barry Callebaut already has a plant in Russia, located in Moscow region. Its capacity is 27.5K tons of products per year. The acquisition of Inforum will allow the Swiss company to significantly expand its production at the second largest chocolate market in the world, according to Barry Callebaut. According to Euromonitor, the consumption of chocolate in Russia is 4.8 kg. per person per year. According to Nielsen, in August 2017 - April 2018, the Russian chocolate market in real terms grew by 9.2%, and the world market - by 2.5%.
Source: sweetinfo.ru.
