Russian chocolate retailer French Kiss is mulling a move into mainstream retail outlets, its new private-equity owner, VIY Management, has told just-food.

French Kiss, which has 16 stores in Moscow and 18 franchises in other parts of the country, was sold to VIYM for an undisclosed sum by majority shareholder and CEO Hussein Yamaniylmaz.

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Funds from the acquisition will be used to implement French Kiss’s ambition to become Russia’s “leading premium hand-made chocolate and confectionery firm by 2017” measured by production and retail outlets, VIYM said.

French Kiss has set a target of “significantly” increasing its production capacity and double its number of stores.

A spokesperson for VIYM told just-food today (9 September) French Kiss “is considering co-operation with retail chains in due course”. The spokesperson said the retailers would be chains with a “similar premium philosophy to French Kiss”.

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Announcing the acquisition, Dmitry Schuetzle, VIYM’s managing director, said: “French Kiss is a stable growing company with a developed retail chain and own unique high quality production. The business is growing quickly, at about 40% per year, and we expect this trend to continue. As the company realises its investment programme over the coming years, we expect it to increase further its level of efficiency, through economies of scale, improved  business operations and reduced costs”.

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Vladimir Mathias, managing director for Russia of Goetzpartners GmbH, financial consultant on this transaction, added: “Working closely with VIYM, we intend to consolidate French Kiss’ leading position in the Russian market, and to transform the business into a transparent and attractive business both for domestic and international investors.”

Yamaniylmaz said the deal was “an important milestone for our company”. He added: “I am confident that they will add considerable value to our business, and that together we should be able to ensure our continued profitable growth.”