Katjes International ups stake in chocolate maker Halloren
Katjes International acquired a 1.3% stake in the German chocolate maker, which was made public at Halloren’s shareholder’s meeting in June this year.
Katjes now has a 7% holding. The majority of Halloren is held by investment firm Charlie Investors (40%) and German entrepreneur Paul Morzynski (27%).
Katjes: Sugar confectionery remains the focus
Stefan Milde, CFO of Katjes International, told ConfectioneryNews his company saw Halloren’s shareholders as long-term partners.
“In 2015, chocolate was around one quarter of our business (by volume). Our strategic focus continues to be on sugar confectionery as the main part of our business,” he said.
Katjes did not disclose its financial investment in Halloren.
Milde told us in September there was still money left over from a €60m ($67m) corporate bond Katjes issued last year to explore further acquisitions in Europe.
Katjes has so far used the funds to fully acquire Dutch licorice maker Festivaldi and to acquire rights to sell and distribute Vicks cough drops in Europe and Russia from Procter & Gamble.
Katjes International is currently present in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It sees sugar confectionery expansion opportunities in Spain and Italy
Halloren subsidiary loses Disney license
Halle headquartered company Halloren produces chocolate and candies across for three business areas, "Halloren Confiserie", "Chocolaterie" and "Industrie" (contract manufacturing).
It recently reported subsidiary Steenland BV will lose its the license to produce Disney–themed chocolate products, which it said may lead to losses for Halloren.
However, the company said it was close to sealing major contracts for the beginning of 2017.
The company issued a €10m ($10.6m) corporate bond in September this year. It said in late October that €5m ($5.3m) worth of shares had already been subscribed.
Halloren was founded in 1804 and owns Germany’s oldest producing chocolate factory still in existence.
