Businessman Manucher Saadati Sohi states he decided to sell Antrefrig pate brand and part of production equipment to Hame Romania to be able to develop his businesses only in the real estate sector.
This was the reason he kept the plot of land the plant of Bucharest was located on. Before being taken over, Antrefrig was equally held by the Iranian-born Romanian citizens Manucher Saadati Sohi, the administrator, and Jafar Kabiri, the company's general manager.
"Production of Antrefrig pate accounted for only 3% of overall turnover and around 30% of our work. At present, it takes a bigger market share to afford bigger marketing investments. So we either invested more, or exited the business," stated Manucher Saadati Sohi.
According to him, Hame was not the only company Antrefrig received a takeover bid from.
"We received takeover bids from Scandia and other producers, but we finally decided to sell to Hame, which in a way led to market balancing," said the former shareholder.
Hame Romania last month acquired Antrefrig brands with around 30 products and part of production equipment of the plant manufacturing the products, after a longer period of failed attempts by the Czech producer to seal a domestic acquisition.
Antrefrig last year generated turnover worth 18.6m RON (5.2m euros) and net income of around 400,000 euros (some 114,000 euros). The figures are lower than last year, when the company got 24.4m RON (6.7m euros) in turnover and 835,000 RON (230,000 euros) in income, according to the Finance Ministry.
The value of the deal was not disclosed by any of the involved parties, but market sources put it at around 5m euros, the minimum sum Hame had stated it was willing to pay to buy two domestic competitors. Manucher estimates Antrefrig held 10% market share before being taken over, a percentage close to that of Hame by the time of the acquisition, of 14%. This means Hame owns around a quarter of the overall market of canned meat in the wake of the takeover.
After Antrefrig sale, all the businessman's operations are concentrated in the real estate field, where he plans to develop projects worth tens of million euros over the next two years.
The canned meat market went beyond the 50m-euro threshold, with Scandia Sibiu, Orkla Foods, Glina and one month ago Antrefrig as the main players.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
