Deals total 500m euros for FMCG and services in 2007

The market of consumer goods and services (trade and tourism) registered deals worth over half a billion euros last year, reveals the Top Deals Yearbook, compiled by ZIARUL FINANCIAR.

One third of deals concluded last year on the services and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) market were worth over 20 million euros each, but no deals worth over 100 million euros were recorded.
The takeover of Kandia-Excelent by Cadbury Schweppes was the only deal whose value approached 100 million euros.
However, results will definitely be different in 2008, after a deal worth 150 million-euros was concluded at the beginning of March. The transaction involved the takeover of Bere Mures by Heineken Romania, which helped to kick start deals in the food industry. Following this deal, Heineken secured the leading position on the local beer market, while each of the six Bere Mures shareholders became at least 12 million euros richer.
This deal, struck by the Dutch group, could be followed by deals in the meat and milk industry this year; sectors in which family businesses still held by Romanian entrepreneurs play an extremely important role.
In the dairy industry, after a series of acquisitions conducted by the Dutch group Friesland in the 2001 - 2004 period, the sale of the Sfantu-Gheorghe-based producer Covalact to investment fund SigmaBleyzer, conducted last year, kick-started a new series of takeovers. Most of the companies targeted are positioned in the second half of the ranking in their respective fields, while the only takeover targets in the top five are Albalact and LaDorna, companies with annual turnovers worth over 40 million euros.
In retail, the expansion started by French group Carrefour last year, through the takeover of the Artima supermarket chain, will also continue in the coming period, especially after large retailers announced ambitious expansion plans.
By taking over the Artima network, Carrefour tapped into the supermarket segment, and expanded into the Western part of the country, a region where its hypermarkets previously had a weak presence. In fact, in its attempt to cover the Romanian market (the second largest market in the region), a single store format would have been of a disadvantage to Carrefour, since hypermarkets cannot tap into the small towns. In addition, there is still enough room for new players on the supermarket segment, while Billa is the only network currently involved in nationwide expansion at present.
Polish Enterprise Fund V (PEF V), a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors, started to seriously consider selling Artima after it received a few "unsolicited, but very attractive offers" from strategic investors to take over its network.