Kraft Heinz sells Russian baby food business
Another foreign company has decided to reduce its presence in Russia: the American food manufacturer Kraft Heinz is selling the Russian baby food business, which is valued at 3 billion rubles, found out “Kommersant”. The other part of the business – a factory for the production of ketchup and canned food – the company will leave to itself.
According to Kommersant, the Heinz-Georgievsk enterprises in the Stavropol Territory and the Ivanovo baby food plant with a total capacity of more than 30 thousand tons of dry, liquid cereals and mashed potatoes per year, as well as the Umnitsa and Sami with a mustache brands are put up for sale. . Kraft Heinz, however, called the information “market rumors.”
Kraft Heinz was created in 2015 as a result of the merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods, the largest shareholder is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The brand portfolio includes the brands Kraft, Heinz, Philadelphia, Maxwell House, etc. In Russia, in addition to baby food factories, Kraft Heinz owns the Petroproduct-Otradnoye enterprise in the Leningrad Region, where it produces ketchups, sauces, and canned foods. The concern does not sell this business, the interlocutors of the publication say.
According to one of Kommersant’s sources, Kraft Heinz estimates the Russian baby food business at 2.5-3 billion rubles.
Experts believe that finding a buyer for this Kraft Heinz asset will not be difficult. Firstly, due to inflationary factors, the construction of plants of this kind has grown by tens of percent – it is cheaper to buy a finished plant. Secondly, the baby food market has always had an increased resistance to the crisis.
Among potential buyers, sources name family offices, and the sale of assets was also discussed with Chernogolovka Group, a large manufacturer of drinks, snacks, and sweets, which produces its own line of baby food.
