Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, the Russian dairy and baby-food group, is reportedly ready to make acquisitions outside the country this year.

Speaking to Reuters today (18 June), Wimm-Bill-Dann director David Yakobashvili said the company is prepared to spend “a lot of money”.

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“We have a good credit component and we have registered a bond issue for US$1bn,” Yakobashvili said.

Yakobashvili’s comments came as Danone announced it would merge its fresh dairy business in Russia with local firm Unimilk.

Danone said the deal would create a business that generated annual sales of EUR1.5bn (US$1.86bn) and spanned Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Separately, Sergei Plastinin, the head of Wimm-Bill-Dann’s board of directors, told Reuters the Russian firm was ready to buy Danone’s stake in the business in the wake of the deal with Unimilk.

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Danone has an 18% stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann and Plastinin said: “Wimm-Bill-Dann would be happy to buy this stake from Danone if such an opportunity – and thus Danone’s desire to sell it – arose. But for now we do not know of such a desire.”

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