Kraft offloads Cadbury Romania to international investment fund

Kraft Foods has announced that it is selling Cadbury’s Kandia-Excelent chocolate, soft cake and sugar confectionery business in Romania to Oryxa Capital, an international investment fund, for an undisclosed sum. Kraft Food was supported by DLA Piper law firm. The move was expected, due to the European Commission’s decision to make Kraft’s Cadbury takeover contingent on the firm giving up the Cadbury business in Romania and Poland, in order to satisfy anti-trust stipulations.

The Polish firm E. Wedel was sold to Asian group Lotte. The sale of the Romanian operations includes Kandia-Excelent brands (Rom, Magura, Kandia, Laura, Sugus and Silvana and others), related trademarks and the manufacturing facility in Bucharest. Kraft Foods will retain the Cadbury international brands, including Halls candy.

Cadbury bought Kandia-Excelent in 2007 for almost EUR 100 million. Kraft Foods entered the Romanian market in 1994, when it took over the Poiana factory in Brasov. In November 2008, the factory in Brasov was closed and production was transferred to other units, including in Bulgaria.

Approximately 530 Cadbury Romania employees work for Kandia-Excelent. The American brand Kraft Foods is present on the local market with brands such as Poiana, Milka and Toblerone chocolate, Jacobs and Nova Brasilia coffee and LU biscuits.

Corina Dumitrescu

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