Austrian sugar producer Agrana is planning to take a majority stake in Serbian firm, Sunoko.
Agrana is a 50-per-cent-owned subsidiary of Germany’s Südzucker, Europe’s biggest sugar producer. Sunoko is part of agribusiness-to-banking company MK Group.
The conclusion of the contract is subject to the approval of the supervisory boards of Agrana and Südzucker. This partnership will also be subject to subsequent approval by anti-trust authorities.
Serbia’s competition protection commission is currently examining Sunoko’s plan to take over 100 per cent of Star Šećer, which owns sugar refinery TE-TO in Senta.
Sunoko is the leading sugar producer in Southeastern Europe, with sugar refineries in Vrbas, Pećinci and Kovačica and an annual production volume of about 300,000 tonnes.
For its part, Agrana has a turnover of €2.5 billion with operations in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The deal comes ahead of the liberalisation of the European sugar market, with the abolition of quotas in 2017.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
