Orkla buys up Latvian company
leading food companies and a key supplier of processed vegetables
to the Baltic region.
A press spokesman for Orkla Foods told CeeFoodIndustry.com that the relevant authorities were currently investigating the deal to see if it complied with anti monopoly laws, but that a positive outcome was expected within the next few months. The spokesperson refused to disclose the terms or the price of the acquisition.
Orkla Foods already has extensive operations in the Baltic region, although this is its first business in Latvia. The company expects that its acquisition of Spilva will give it a clear lead in the region's processed vegetables sector. Currently Spilva generates annual operating revenues of approximately €10 million and has 180 employees.
Spilva's head office and production plant are situated in Latvia's capital, Riga. It has a broad product portfolio, and the main products are processed vegetables, ketchup and other tomato-based sauces, mustard and horseradish, mayonnaise, desserts and jams. The company manufactures, markets and sells its products under the Spilva brand and they are exported to Lithuania, Russia and Estonia.
The company is currently owned by private entrepreneurs but after the acquisition the personnel and present management, including the president of Spilva, Lolita Bemhena, have said that they will continue working with the company.
"Spilva will strengthen our position in the Baltic States," says managing director Dag Opedal of Orkla Foods. The company already has operations in Estonia and Lithuania but this is its first business in Latvia. Orkla Foods' operations in the Baltic States are part of its Finnish division, Felix Abba's and the new company will become apart of that division.
Orkla Foods has been increasing its operations in the central and eastern European region in recent years. Two years ago it announced the acquisition of Romanian ketchup, mustard and margarine producer Topway Foods International and at the beginning of this year it announced that it had bought up all the remaining shares in Polish seafood processor Superfish.
Orkla Foods' operating revenues totalled close to NOK 12 billion (€1.46bn) in 2003. After the acquisition, the company will have production in 14 countries.
