Hame buys Romanian food maker Antrefrig

Hame owned a plant in Romanian town of Caracal already before the acquisition. The price of the transaction has not been disclosed. “Production of pates and canned meat will not continue in Antrefrig. We will transfer it to Caracal,” Hame CEO Leos Novotny said. Hame wants to become number one on the relevant Romanian market.

The daily says that the company has acted in the same way like when it was building its position in the Czech Republic. In the acquisition, Hame focused in particular on the trademark and symbol. Hame has modernized the Caracal plant at a cost of nearly 250 million koruna ($12.6 million) this year. It has become the basis for expansion in Romania to which only the firm Scandia, the local market leader, stands in the way. “The owners offered us Scandia for sale once already but then gave up the idea. We do not give up, though,” Novotny noted.

Antrefrig had a turnover equivalent to 150 million koruna ($7.58 million) last year. Its Iranian owners have kept the land, says HN. Hame has been active on the Romanian market since mid-1990s when it started to import products from Czech plant to the country. In 2004, it acquired the firm Romconserv and also a production plant. Hame also owns a plant in Russia, and in Hungary has a subsidiary Hame Hungaria. It exports goods to 36 countries, including Libya, Cuba, the USA and Japan. In the H1, Hame’s sales grew by 15% year-on-year to 2.12 billion koruna ($107 million). The company expects 4.9 billion Czech koruna sales this year. (praguemonitor.com)