Finelin under Finnish control
company Finelin in a deal valued at €10.3 million. Olvi's Estonian
subsidiary, A.Le Coq, will now own 100 per cent of Finelin.
Olvi, the Finnish drinks group, has taken control of Estonian company Finelin in a deal valued at €10.3 million.
Olvi's Estonian subsidiary, A.Le Coq, will now own 100 per cent of Finelin, which in turn owns soft drink maker Osel Foods, a producer of juices and mineral waters as well as soft drinks with added vitamins.
Combining the businesses of A.Le Coq and Osel will lead to numerous synergies and give both companies a greater share of the Baltic beverages market, according to Tarmo Noop, CEO of A.Le Coq. The merger will mean not only an increase in the companies' production capacity but also make it more likely that both would be able to make better use of the increased capacity as well, he added.
'"Production capacity, especially in the soft drinks and water segment, has been a problem for us over the last two summers," Noop said. He added that the deal would not only solve this problem but also give A. Le Coq new opportunities to move into the market for juices and juice drinks.
It would also help the company make better use of its production facilities in both Latvia and Lithuania.
A.Le Coq and Osel Foods have worked closely together for the last few years, and both have similar views about how to develop the market in the future, making them ideal partners, Noop added.
Kuldar Leis, CEO of Osel Foods, said that the deal with Olvi was in the best interests of the company and in particular for its flagship brand Aura, which is likely to see greater marketing support and wider distribution as a result.
A.Le Coq owns a number of drinks operations - Estonian brewer Tartu Olletehas, Latvian beer maker Cesu Alus and Lithuanian brewery Ragutis. Combined sales for all the group's subsidiaries in the first half of the year were EK297 million (€19m). Osel posted sales of EK110 million in the same period.
