Czech group Agrofert Holding plans to use its acquisition of German baker Lieken to launch its own products into Europe’s largest economy.
Agrofert announced in February a deal to buy Lieken from Italian food company Barilla. The transaction is set to be analysed by Brussels next month.
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A spokesman for Agrofert said he expects the acquisition to be cleared and indicated the company would use Lieken to push its own range of products into Germany.
“Considering the fact that Agrofert does not own any bakeries in Germany, we don’t expect complications,” the spokesman said.
“We make no secret of the fact that we would like to open the door to our Czech grocery products to the German market. We are convinced that we have a range of quality products which can succeed in Germany.
“We believe we produce many high-quality food products in the Czech Republic. For example, many kinds of ham from Kostelecke, and milk and butter from Olma. We would like to launch these products in the German market and we believe the German consumers will enjoy them but no plan has been implemented yet.”
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By GlobalDataShould the transaction be approved, Agrofert could gain a competitive advantage in Germany as the company could use cheaper Czech inputs to make its bakery products.
The spokesman declined to disclose the price Agrofert had agreed to pay for Lieken citing a confidentiality agreement.
Agrofert, owned by Slovak entrepreneur Andrej Babis has 201 companies across sectors including chemicals as well as food. The company last year posted Czech Crowns CZK202bn (US$10.26bn) revenues on net profit of CZK7.8bn.
