Austria’s largest snack producer Kelly GmbH has bought a potato chip factory in the Bosnian town of Zavidovici with 34 employees, as part of expansion plans announced in the spring of 2005, according to the Austria Presse Agentur.
No information was available on the acquisition price. Apart from the factory Kelly also acquired the trade mark “Goldy”, which will be marketed locally.
The Zavidovici plant will produce potato chips and other products for the southeastern European markets. Kelly’s most important expansion opportunities lie in the southeastern European countries and production will follow the markets, executive director Wolfgang Hoetschl said.
The products sold so far in Bosnia were produced in Austria. Now the Balkan region is served locally, but the move will not lower the output of the Vienna-based Austrian factory. The products which were earlier sold in Bosnia will now be sold in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
In the Balkan region Kelly has a market share of over 40%. The factory will have an output sufficient to supply the markets in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. The company will seek to achieve an annual production of 700 tonnes.
