Danone acquisition in Hungary approved

Eurofood, Feb 1, 2001

The Hungarian competition office has approved the acquisition of Gydri Keksz Kft, a subsidiary of United Biscuits (UB), by French company Danone. This means that Danone now has a 100% stake in UB's biscuit and wafer plants in Hungary. According to the competition office, the deal did not result in any economic superiority for Danone as it had previously had no production unit in Hungary and had imported wafers and biscuits from its plant in Poland. Danone said a cut in output or the closing down of production units as a result of the deal was highly unlikely. In 1999 Gydri Keksz acquired a wafer and biscuit plant from Stollwerck, boosting production by 40% from 19 000 tonnes to 25 000t in 2000. Exports soared by 30%, primarily to CEFTA countries.

Gydri Keksz has a 64% share of the Hungarian biscuit market and a 67% share of the wafer market.