Mihai Petrea (40), general manager and majority shareholder of milk producer Lactaprod in Braila county, has taken over half of the shares of the former mineral water business of Bere Mures producer. The other half of the business is currently held by Horea Balan, son of Ioan Balan, former owner of Covalact.
"As of July 1, the shareholders of Ape Minerale Bacaia (the mineral water plant in Hunedoara county acquired by Heineken Romania from Bere Mures i.e.) are my son Horea Balan, and Mihai Petrea, majority shareholder of Lactaprod. I won't be a shareholder, I merely financed my son's share of the business," said Ioan Balan, the businessman who secured around six million euros from selling the majority stake in Covalact, one of the leading dairy producers on the Romanian market.
In May this year, representatives of Heineken Romania beer producer said they had sold the mineral water division, acquired at the same time as Bere Mures, to Ioan Balan, former majority shareholder of Covalact. Balan confirmed the information at the time, but added that, after conclusion of the deal with Heineken, he intended to bring his son, as well as another unnamed partner into the business. "Maybe I will leave the company's management in the hands of the young," Balan told ZF at the time.
Company representatives did not reveal the value of the investment going into the acquisition of the mineral water plant, only that this transaction was in the range of millions of euros. However, according to sources in the industry, the value of the deal was of around one million euros.
"One of the main reasons why I decided to go into this business is that the milk and the mineral water season don't overlap. Another factor was that the mineral water market is ten times smaller than in the rest of Europe, so it has a high growth potential even in this time of crisis," said Mihai Petrea, who used loans to purchase half of the mineral water business.
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