In its first year since launching the Albacher brand, Romaqua, the producer of Borsec mineral water, intends to sell around one million hectolitres of beer, the overall volume produced by the Sebes plant. The group will officially inaugurate a new plant in Lancram, following a 39 million-euro investment.
Romaqua's first beer brand is Albacher, available in PET packaging and cans.
"Albacher is a Premium Pils beer positioned on the mainstream segment. Its main competitors are Bergenbier, Golden Brau and Timisoreana," said representatives of the Romaqua Group, adding that the company plans to get 4-5% of the beer market in its first year.
The producer plans to launch several beer brands in the future. "For now, our objective is to see Albacher grow before launching other beer brands," specified Mihaela Draghici, communication manager of Romaqua.
The group, with consolidated turnover worth 130 million euros in 2007, targets an around 50% increase for this year, to 200 million euros, generated mainly by its entry onto the beer market and by investments into boosting mineral water production.
Romaqua started the construction of the plant last year, on a 27-hectare plot. The facility has an annual bottling capacity of one million hectolitres. Part of the project's funding came from a 30 million-euro loan from the BCR. Recently, the group's shareholders have approved the outsourcing of two loans, worth 75.5 million euros in total, from the BCR to Erste Bank Vienna, the majority shareholder of the Romanian bank.
Representatives of the producer had previously said that investments in the beer plant could amount to 60 million euros. Romaqua Group, controlled by Octavian Cretu, is the largest mineral water bottler on the local market, a market where it is present with Borsec, Stanceni and Aquatique brands. With the launch of Albacher, competition is tightening on the beer market. Four strong international companies, Heineken, InBev, SABMiller and Carlsberg, currently hold 80% of the market and sold over 15 million hectolitres of beer last year, equivalent to 3 billion (0.5-litre) bottles.
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