Cadbury Schweppes Acquires Kandia Excelent for Nearly 100 Mln EUR

Confectionery company Cadbury Schweppes acquired 93.32% in Romania"s Kandia Excelent for 326,458,800 RON. On Friday, the main shareholders in Kandia Excelent, Axis Investments Ltd and Meinl Bank AG sold their holdings of 84.16% and 9.16% respectively. Cadbury Schweppes paid 2.9 RON/share, the value of the transaction amounting to approximately 99.37 million EUR.

Todd Stitzer, Chief Executive Officer of Cadbury Schweppes, said: "The purchase of Kandia-Excelent is aligned with our strategy of pursuing bolt-on acquisitions to further strengthen our confectionery platform. Kandia-Excelent has a strong position in the Romanian confectionery market, which is worth over 300 million EUR and grew 17% last year. This acquisition gives us an exciting opportunity to further develop their leading brands and leverage their strong routes to market."

Kandia-Excelent, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as EXC, is the second largest confectionery company in Romania, with a 20% market share in total confectionery. It has a number 2 position in the chocolate market with a 24% share, and a leading position in candy with a 32% share. 2007 sales are forecast to be approximately 50 million EUR, with around two-thirds coming from chocolate and the majority of the remainder from candy. Kandia-Excelent has a single production facility in Bucharest and approximately 850 employees.

Cadbury Schweppes is the world"s largest confectionery company and has strong regional beverages businesses in North America and Australia. Its main brands are Cadbury, Schweppes, Halls, Trident, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Trebor, Dentyne, Bubblicious and Bassett. The Group employs over 70,000 people.