Roshen acquires Hungarian firm Bonbonetti
Roshen employs around 10,000 people and claims to be the 15th largest confectionery company worldwide with $1.2bn in annual sales and a 450,000 tons production capacity.
Bonbonetti produces chocolate and pralines under brands including tibi and Cherry Queen.
The company also supplies special chocolates, coating masses, fillings and enrichers to the industry.
The firm’s factory is based in Budapest and it employs 600 people.
Hungarian market
In July, Bonbonetti announced a strategic partnership with Roshen that it said supported its “international expansion in Europe”.
Roshen has now acquired over 50% of the business after the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine approved the deal last Friday.
The Hungarian confectionery market is worth $570.6m, according to Euromonitor International, and has declined 7% in retail value sales since last year.
Sources have told ConfectioneryNews.com that the industry in Hungary has been pressured by a fat tax that was introduced in September last year, which places a 10 forint (€0.37) levy on foods bearing fat, sugar and salt at levels over a certain threshold.
Roshen’s Bonbonetti buy comes as another Eastern European confectioner, Candy Plus based in Czech Republic, was snapped up today by another foreign firm after Finnish manufacturer Raisio secured a €20.5m ($26m) deal. See HERE.
Roshen expansion
Roshen has stepped up its expansion efforts in recent months. In August, it opened a new €59.1m ($75m) factory in the Ukraine with a capacity of 120,000 tons of chocolate products.
It is also known to be searching for a distribution partner in South East Asia as it looks to capatalise on the high growing chocolate market in the region.
Roshen is the fifth largest confectionery manufacturer in Eastern Europe with a 4.2% share, according to Euromonitor. The market leader in the region is Mars followed by Mondelez International, Nestlé and Russian firm United Confectioners.
Roshen owns factories in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Mariupol and Kremenchuk in Ukraine, the Lipetsk-based Likonf confectionery plant in Russia and Klaipedos Konditerija confectionery in Lithuania.
