American consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive, the world's leading toothpaste manufacturer, yesterday bought the 24% held by Norvea Brasov in Colgate-Palmolive Romania, market sources told ZF. The Americans paid upwards of 25 million euros to increase their stake to 100% in the Romanian subsidiary.
Norvea Brasov, a company once known for its Norvea toothpaste, concluded last year with a turnover of 141,202 euros from sales of thermopane glass and other products. The deal will have a very big impact on Norvea Brasov, whose results over the past few years have been reliant on the share it held in Colgate Palmolive Romania.
Norvea Brasov, which is mainly controlled by the company's management, ended the year with 1.33 million euros in total revenues and net profit of one million euros, after collecting the dividends for its 24% in Colgate-Palmolive Romania, the data in the company's report shows.
Norvea Brasov is listed on the RASDAQ market.
The latest available data shows Norvea's main shareholders are Constantin Teodorescu (19.44%), one of the managers, followed by Ioan Georgescu and Gheorghe Ion, who are also part of Norvea's management team.
Norvea has budgeted 1.4 million-euro net profit for this year (about 5 million RON) and total revenues of 1.7 million euros (6.1 million RON).
Tuca, Zbarcea & Asociatii law firm assisted the buyer in this deal, while the Ernst & Young audit company evaluated the business to determine the value of the seller's stake. Considering the price Colgate-Palmolive Romania paid to Norvea, the value of the Colgate-Palmolive Romania company stands at more than 100 million euros.
Colgate-Palmolive Romania has yet to reveal its 2005 results. It reported a 5 million-euro net income against a 37.6 million-euro turnover and 279 employees in 2004.
When contacted by ZF, the Colgate-Palmolive Romania representatives did not offer any comment on the subject.
Norvea Brasov officials could not be reached by the time the story was ready for print.
Colgate-Palmolive entered the Romanian market in 1992, when it established a joint venture with Colgate Palmolive Romania and Norvea, with production facilities in Brasov and Bucharest.
Colgate-Palmolive, the only multinational that has toothpaste production facilities in Romania, last year announced it would cease toothpaste production in Brasov, as part of an extensive restructuring programme that entails shutting down four toothpaste factories in Europe.
Colgate took over the factory in Brasov 14 years ago and re-launched the Super Cristal brand, for medium and low-income households. A year ago, Super Cristal was third on the market after Colgate, the main brand of Colgate-Palmolive and Blend-a-med (Procter & Gamble). According to the latest available data, Colgate Palmolive is the leader of the domestic toothpaste market. Colgate was also making the Norvea creams and the Damaris after-shave products in Brasov.
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