Unilever buys Napoca ice cream from Friesland Foods

Unilever, producer of Dero detergents and of Rama margarine, has acquired Napoca ice cream from Netherlands's Friesland Foods, in a deal sealed this month, which market sources put at less than 5 million euros. The deal includes the Napoca brand, with sales worth around 8 million euros in 2008, on a 100-120 million-euro market, as well as the distribution of the products, with the ice cream to continue to be produced by Napolact, a company within the Friesland group. Napoca is produced in the Napolact plant in Baciu (Cluj county), one of the largest facilities held by Friesland Foods on the Romanian market. Around 29 Napolact employees will be transferred to the newly created Unilever ice cream division. "Ice cream is an important division for Unilever and we think this is the right time to explore this opportunity in Romania," said Alexandra Gatej, Chairman of Unilever South Central Europe. Unilever's portfolio of international brands includes brands such as Magnum, Carte d'Or and Cornetto, which have in the past year been imported and distributed on the Romanian market by an independent company.