(Reuters) – Croatia’s Atlantic Grupa , one of the biggest food producers and retailers in the Balkans, said on Tuesday it had entered talks on purchasing a stake in Serbian food producer Foodland.
“We confirm we have started negotiations for acquiring a stake in Foodland company, which to date have not been finalised,” Atlantic Grupa said in a statement. It did not specify whether it was pursuing a majority stake or less.
Atlantic Grupa operates in 11 countries and exports its products to more than 30 markets worldwide. Besides the Balkan countries, its most important markets are Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. It employs 4,250 people.
Foodland, founded in 1998, is focused on products based on fruit and vegetables. It has some 180 employees and is active on more than 20 international markets.
According to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, which compiles the financial reports of Serbia’s companies, Foodland’s revenues in 2013 amounted to 10 million euros ($12.4 million) with net profit of some 160,000 euros.
Atlantic Grupa already owns several food producers in Serbia.
(1 US dollar = 0.8046 euro) (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Keiron Henderson)
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