Macromex builds bakery plant together with Belgium's La Lorraine

Macromex, the biggest frozen product distributor on the market, with 117m-euro turnover in 2009, will invest 8m euros in a plant in Campia Turzii, Cluj county, built in partnership with Belgium's bakery and patisserie producer La Lorraine. The plant will be erected in Campia Turzii, in the same location where the company will start building its first distribution centre of Transylvania in autumn. "Investments in the plant will amount to some 8m euros and will be financed through a joint-venture, with Macromex and La Lorraine as equal partners," stated Virgil Melinte, COO with Macromex. The project in Campia Turzii is the biggest investment Macromex has announced so far, with the company employing around 530 people and distributing brands of producers such as Unilever (Algida unit), Lactalis or Dujardin. Last year, Macromex reached 117m-euro turnover, slightly down, by 3%, from 2008, and net income of 2.5m euros. The distributor is controlled by businessman Dan Minulescu. The entrepreneur, 41, last year announced the Campia Turzii project would be developed in three stages, with the first stage to end in 2011 in the wake of 20m-euro investments.