Food Union purchases Premia Foods and expands operations in Estonia, Lithuania and Russia

Today, 6 October, the Food Union shareholder Andrejs Beshmeļņickis signed the contract for the purchase of the Premia Foods ice cream and refrigerated foods company. The objective of the deal is to expand significantly the operations in the Baltics and Russia, and to unite the leading regional ice cream brand in the Food Union group. Closing this deal, Food Union becomes the leading ice cream manufacturer in the Baltic region. Innovation, excellence in production and the drive to create new tastes to meet the consumer demand will remain the main focus of the Food Union activities.

‘We are glad to bring one of Estonia’s leading food manufacturers —Premia Foods— into the Food Union group. The Premia Foods team is highly professional and has a lot of experience making ice cream, Premia is also a very strong and valuable brand in the Baltics, and we will continue growing it. Premia Foods will open new opportunities for our continuous growth and innovation in our broad and varied ice cream portfolio,’ the Food Union shareholder Andrejs Beshmeļņickis explained.

‘This is a significant event for every fan of ice cream in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We want to create new excellent products that will continue bringing joy to people in the Baltic States. Our goal is to improve the ice cream production and consumption culture in the Baltics, reaching a completely new level,’ Andrejs Beshmeļņickis added.

AS Premia Foods is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ OMX Tallinn Stock Exchange. Two out of three business lines of AS Premia Foods are being sold as part of the deal (including AB Premia KPC (Lithuania), AS Premia TKH (Estonia), AS Premia FFL (Latvia) and OOO Hladokombinat No1 (Russia)); in total, they take up a half of the company’s revenue. The amount of the deal is 27.1 million euros. The deal will still have to be confirmed at the extraordinary general meeting of Premia Foods shareholders, which will take place three weeks past 6 October, as well as by the Competition Council in Latvia.

After the Premia Foods shareholders approve the deal, the company management will retain its posts and will continue its active participation in the daily ice cream and frozen food business activities in the Baltics. As a result of the deal, the Premia brand as well as the other Premia Foods ice cream and frozen food brands will become property of Andrejs Beshmeļņickis. The Premia Foods factory in Tallinn will continue its work, and all its employees will retain their posts.

Andrejs Beshmeļņickis is a global food industry entrepreneur of Ukrainian origin. In 2011, Andrejs Beshmeļņickis purchased two largest dairy processing companies in Latvia: AS Rīgas piena kombināts and AS Valmieras piens, and united them in the Food Union group. Now, AS Premia Foods joins this group.