Kraft Foods has announced the sale of Kandia-Excelent chocolate, sugar confectionery and cake business in Romania, inherited from Cadbury acqisition, to Oryxa Capital, an international investment fund, subject to regulatory approval. Cadbury had acquired the leading Romanian confectioner in 2007 but Kraft has been forced to divest it under EU competition rules as part of its takeover of Cadbury.

The sale includes Kandia-Excelent brands such as Rom, Magura, Kandia, Laura, Sugus and Silvana, related trademarks, and the manufacturing facility in Bucharest.

The market for confectionery in Romania increased at a compound annual growth rate of 5.4 per cent between 2004 and 2009, with the chocolate category taking the lion’s share, accounting for 46.3 per cent of the market, according to Datamonitor.

Kandia-Excelent, which has an annual chocolate production capacity of 20,000 tonnes, has 530 employees.

source: confectionerynews.com