Industry analysts have said leading Western and Russian juice producers are eyeing a controlling stake in Sandora.
Ukraine’s largest juice producer, Sandora, could be sold in the near future to a strategic investor eager to enter the country’s promising beverages market.
Sources said Sandora has hired the services of Deutsche Bank and a Ukrainian investment bank called Golden Gate to arrange the tender. Yet all sides involved are remaining tight-lipped about the deal.
Industry analysts have said leading Western and Russian juice producers are eyeing a controlling stake in Sandora, which dominates about 47 percent of Ukraine’s juice market and is valued at about half a billion dollars.
Founded in 1995, Mykolayiv-based Sandora produces juices under the Sandora, Sadochok and DAR brands.
Last year the company pumped about $20 million into a new juice plant in Mykolayiv Region using a credit line provided by the International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the World Bank.
Earlier this year, the company’s executive director, Ihor Landa, unveiled plans to increase juice production by some 50 percent through the introduction of new production lines.
The lion’s share of Sandora’s juices are sold on the domestic market. About 25 percent are exported to 24 countries.
Sandora officials refused to confirm or deny ongoing sale talks.
Two Lithuanian citizens, Raimondas Tumenas and Sergey Sypko, own equal 45 percent stakes in Sandora. Igor Bezzub, the company’s current general director, holds a 10 percent stake. Today, Sandora owns and operates two fruit-processing and two juice and nectar-packaging plants located in southern Ukraine.
Oksana Kozachok, an analyst at Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, said that to meet its ambitious plans of further expansion, Sandora may need large investments.
“The expenses of maintenance and further expansion on the domestic market will require larger investments that the owners may not be able to handle on their own,” said Kozachok.
Oleksandr Sokolov, an analyst at Kyiv’s Pro-Consulting, said the sale of Sandora looks logical, since “the company is at its peak, and the owners can sell it at a premium.”
Sokolov said Ukrainian juice producers boosted production last year by 20-25 percent, churning out 715 million liters of juice, 530 million liters of which were sold on the domestic market. Growth will remain strong within the next several years, he added.
Analysts said it is likely that Sandora’s controlling stake will be sold soon, since Western and Russian investors are eager to increase their presence on the market.
“Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and Russian juice producers Wimm-Bill-Dann, not to mention foreign investment banks, may be interested in buying a stake in Sandora,” said Kozachok.
Sandora’s biggest competitors on the Ukrainian market include Odessa-based Vitmark Ukraine with its Jaffa and Sokovyta brands, Dnipropetrovsk Erlan (Biola brand), and Mriya.
The Coca-Cola Company entered Ukraine’s juice market in 2005, introducing its Rich and Dobriy brands.
Coca-Cola officials in Ukraine have neither confirmed nor denied their company’s interest in Sandora.
Russia’s Wimm-Bill-Dann has a strong position on Ukraine’s dairy market and has announced intensions to produce juice in Ukraine, but no concrete actions have been taken yet.
