Vivartia in Saudi Arabia joint venture to produce and sell bakery products
Greece’s biggest food company Vivartia is expanding to Saudi Arabia to form a joint venture with Western Bakeries and Olayan Financing Company (OFC). The new company will produce and distribute bakery products using a new production plant in Jidda set for completion by end-2008. Its total investment will reach -14 million and its activities will extend to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. «This investment has major significance for us as it marks Vivartia’s entry to the Gulf countries,» said the Greek firm’s CEO, Spyros Theodoropoulos. Vivartia owns 25 percent of the new company, Western Bakeries has 60 percent and Olayan has the remaining 15 percent. Olayan is one of the biggest financial groups with a significant presence in the Middle East countries and participates with a 4.3 percent stake in the share capital of Vivartia, having been its strategic partner in bakery production for some time. Western Bakeries is the leader of the bakery sector in the Arab Gulf countries with an extensive distribution network. It is a subsidiary of Almarai Company, listed on the Saudi stock market, and a market leader in the dairy sector of Saudi Arabia. Vivartia has announced it will seek further geographical expansion across all its markets of interest (bakery-pastry, dairy, frozen food and restaurants) through joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, intending to spend up to -400 million in the coming years. The significant presence abroad in the bakery-pastry branch – created in the past by Chipita International, one of the companies that set up Vivartia last year – forms a strong basis for similar activities in Vivartia’s other sectors too. Against this background, it recently went ahead with the acquisition of United Milk Company AD from the BSF Fund.
