The announcement about the acquisition came just three weeks after PepsiAmericas, Inc. and PepsiCo announced the purchase of Sandora
France’s Orangina Group, Europe’s third largest soft-drink manufacturer, announced on June 26 that it had acquired Rosynka, a leading Ukrainian non-alcoholic beverages maker.
The announcement about the acquisition came just three weeks after PepsiAmericas, Inc. and PepsiCo announced the purchase of Sandora, Ukraine’s top juice maker.
Orangina Group’s purchase of Rosynka is yet another sign that despite the unstable political situation in the country, international investors are confident in Ukrainian business and continue to make investments. As some market observers have noted, it seems that Ukrainian business and politics are able to function separately.
Russian-based investment banking and financial group Renaissance Capital served as a financial advisor in the sale of the plant.
The French company signed an agreement to purchase 99.7 percent of Rosynka, according to Renaissance Capital. The exact price and details of the deal were not disclosed.
Oksana Kozachok, a specialist with the investment banking department of Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, estimated the deal to be worth around $60-65 million.
With about 10 percent of the domestic market, Rosynka is one of the top producers of non-alcoholic drinks and mineral water in Ukraine. The company was founded in Kyiv in 1960.
The company’s brand portfolio includes such trademarks as Rosynka, Sofia Kyivska, A.C.E., and Capri-Sonne.
Last year the company produced nearly 144 million liters of beverages and increased its revenues year-on-year by 15 percent to $40 million. Rosynka employs 600 people and has six production lines.
In addition to a production facility in Kyiv, Rosynka’s assets include a plant in Yevpatoriya, Crimea, with smaller production capabilities. Rosynka exports nearly 5 percent of its products to the CIS, North America, Europe and the Middle East. The company’s main competitors in Ukraine include Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, IDS (owner of the Mirgorodska brand), Biola and Obolon.
Orangina Group is the third largest player on the European market of soft drinks, after Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The company’s core brands are Orangina, Schweppes, Oasis and Trina. The group also has national brands, such as Pampryl and Champomy in France, La Casera and Vida in Spain, as well as Gini in Belgium. The Orangina Group was founded in February 2006 after Cadbury Schweppes sold its European soft-drink operations.
With 2,000 employees, Orangina Group recorded revenues in 2006 of close to $1 billion. The Rosynka acquisition will allow the group to strengthen its portfolio of 16 brands and widen its geographical reach to 30 countries.
Orangina Group External Communication Director Thomas Gauthier-Lafaye told the Post in a telephone interview that the purchase of the Ukrainian beverage producer was “a great opportunity for us to grow east, to extend reach in this country, and to work with a reliable partner, which is a fast-growing company.”
Gauthier-Lafaye added that Rosynka wanted to find a partner, because while the company had strong positions in Kyiv, with about 35 percent of market share in the capital and its surroundings, it still wanted to expand into other parts of Ukraine.
Orangina Group does not have any production operations in Russia, and until now has had none in Ukraine.
Orangina Group is the third company that has signed an agreement to purchase Rosynka shares.
In May, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed Polish company Maspex Wadovice Group to purchase 50 percent of Rosynka’s shares. But the group that manufactures beverages in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia did not proceed with the deal.
In February of this year, Advent International, a global equity firm based in the US, won a tender to purchase Rosynka. The deal was estimated by insiders to be worth around $55 million. But in May, Advent International backed out of the deal.
Christian Mruck, a partner with Advent International, told the Post that the sale did not go through because both parties could not agree to the terms.
Sources said Rosynka is currently 45 percent owned by Kyiv-based investment firm Tekt Group, which in turn is owned by local businessman Vadym Gryb. The rest of the company is controlled by Andriy Ivanov, a member of the Kyiv City Council.
Michael Maltzoff, founding partner of Dnieper Capital investment firm, said that his firm brought Ivanov on as an investor and spearheaded Rosynka’s transformation into a joint stock company.
Maltzoff said that Dnieper Capital was asked to provide assistance by Rosynka’s management in thwarting what it perceived to be a hostile takeover by Tekt Group in May 2006, when ownership of the beverage plant formally rested with its employees.
Gryb denied that he attempted a hostile takeover and said the media distorted the details of the deal.
More than 30 potential customers, including beverage makers and financial investors from Ukraine, Russia and Europe, participated in the tender to purchase Rosynka’s shares. More than 10 companies provided their final bids for consideration to Rosynka shareholders.
According to Gauthier-Lafaye, the Orangina Group currently does not plan to drastically change Rosynka’s business operations because it “has a very good position on the market.”
He added that “Ukraine is a very fragmented market, where there are many strong national brands… The competition will be fierce, but very open.”
Based in France, Orangina Group is owned by two major global equity firms – Blackstone Group and Lion Capital.
