WBD buys meat, dairy holding in Vladimir region
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (WDB) has bought the Opolie meat and dairy product holding from the Vladimir region, WBD said in a press release.
WBD applied to the Federal Antimonopoly Service for clearance for the deal in October.
"This acquisition is in line with WBD's announced strategy aimed at expanding its business with the purchase of successful companies with strong market positions in their regions and a stable raw materials base," the release says.
Opolie, whose brands include Opolie, Vivio, and BioLight, is among Russia's top ten dairy companies. The holding has three dairy complexes - Yuryev-Polsky, Lakinsky, and Suzdalsky - which have the capacity to process over 300 tonnes of milk per day.
This deal will help strengthen WBD's position in Russia's Central region, company Vice President Silviu Popovici said in the release.
Founded in 1992, Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods is one of the leading producers of dairy and juice product companies in Russia. It has 36 production facilities in Russia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as sales branches in 26 cities.
PepsiCo announced it was buying WBD for $5.8 billion last December. One of WBD's former owners, David Iakobashvili, said recently that the deal was virtually wrapped up. With the purchase of WBD, PepsiCo will be aiming to become "number one" on the world's dairy market, onto which the company plans to move the main WBD brands Domik v derevnye, Chudo, and Vesyoly molochnik, among others, Iakobashvili said.
"The deal is complete on paper, and permission from state regulatory agencies has been secured. Only a few technical actions remain to be performed," he said.
