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bne November 2018 Companies & Markets I 17
bne:Deal
Chocolate giant Barry Callebaut eyes fast- growing Russian market, acquires peer
IntelliNews Pro
One of the world's largest B2B cocoa producers and grinders Swiss Barry Callebaut acquired Inforum, Russia's largest producer of industrial chocolate, compound coatings and fillings, the companies said on October 4.
Russia's is the second-largest chocolate market globally, with 4.8kg of chocolate consumed per capita annually. The market grew at 9.2% in natural volumes year-on-year as of April 2018, by a large margin outpacing the global growth of 2.5%, Kommersant daily said citing Nielsen data.
Barry Callebaut seeks to strengthen its position in Russia and the CIS, as well as export markets, without disclosing the amount of the deal, which still requires the approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti daily estimate the deal at RUB1.8bn ($27mn).
The Swiss company united over 60 producers globally with 1.9mn tonne capacity, €6.3bn turnover in 2017, and €11.28bn marker capitalisation. Jacobs Holding AG holds 50.11% in Barry Callebaut, with 8.48% held by Renata Jacobs, and 3.64% by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance.
“Russia's is the second-largest chocolate market globally”
Inforum's sales in 2017 amounted to $5.1bn. Russian nationals Viktor Voytov and Viktor Kudryavtsev own 42.47% in the com- pany, 7.87% is held by the strategic director Evgeny Bulytov, and the rest is owned by businessman Konstantin Zhukov. Voytov will chair the board of Barry Callebaut's Russian divi- sion post-acquisition. Barry Callebaut already operates a plant in Russia's Moscow region at 27,500 tonnes annual capacity.
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Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn Jaroslav Hroch in Prague
Avast, which owns the popular consumer antivirus company AVG, will apply to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the hope of raising $200mn (CZK4.1bn) in primary proceeds from an IPO, the Czech-founded company announced on April 12.
See page 2
St Petersburg's start-up scene flourishes on high talent and low costs
Contents
Avast to enter London bourse
in bid to raise up to $1bn 1 Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn 2 St Petersburg's start-up scene
flourishes on high talent and low costs 3 Romania entrepreneur aims to put home-grown UAV defence technology industry on the map 6
FinTech
Russia's mobile major MTS increases stake in Ozon to 16.7% 9
Blockchain
Romanian startups at the heart
of blockchain energy trading rally 10
Central Europe
Russian-Lithuanian startup Gosu.ai
raises $1.9mn from Russian and
French investors 13
Eurasia
Iran hit by cyber attack that left US
flag on screens 14 Iranian government set to block hugely popular Telegram messaging app 15 Iran's black market phone disconnection drive pushes up legal mobile imports 15
Eastern Europe
Internet catches up with TV on Russian
ad market 17 Sales of connected appliances jump
in Russia 17 Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 18 Russia ranks second in the world
for digital piracy 18 Russian messaging service Telegram raised another $850mn with ICO 19
Southeast Europe
Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 20
The Regions This Month 21
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