Normunds Staņēvičs becomes Food Union head in Europe

As of mid-April of this year, Normunds Staņēvičs, the European CFO of international dairy product and ice-cream group Food Union and CEO of JSC Rīgas piena kombināts, becomes head of Food Union’s European division. Staņēvičs duties will include overseeing and managing the development of Food Union companies in the Baltic states, Denmark, Norway and Romania.

“In previous years, the European companies of Food Union have adopted a unified finance management system and a unified financial accounting and control system, stable production synergies have been developed among the companies, a number of companies’ functions have been digitalized and thus made more efficient, and enhanced logistics solutions have been introduced in what have become the first steps in developing the concept of sustainable and smart production. Priorities for the following years include the adoption of unified corporate management principles in the group, introducing modern and effective internal communication, and most importantly, the creation of a competency center. The center for the development of fresh dairy products and ice-creams will be created in Riga by 2020 for the needs of the whole group,” reveals Normunds Staņēvičs, Food Union head in Europe.

After the latest changes, the management team of Food Union Group’s European division will have 3 members. Working under Staņēvičs’ direct leadership will be Anna Temerova-Allen, CFO of Food Union Group’s European division, and Business Development Manager Rinalds Sluckis. There are no plans for any changes in the Food Union Group’s Baltic division, which like before will be headed by Sergei Beskhmelnitsky, General Manager of Food Union in the Baltic and CIS.

In 2018, the Food Union Group turned over more than EUR 280 million in Europe, which was an increase of 11 percent against the previous period, and generated over EUR 9.8 million in profit. The Food Union Group employs more than 2,500 people. Food Union is currently the leading dairy product maker in Latvia and leading ice-cream producer in the Baltic states and Denmark. The Food Union Group’s shareholders include its founder and global head Andrey Beskhmelnitsky, the Hong Kong-based investment company Meridian Capital Limited and one of Asia’s largest private capital firms PAG. They became Food Union shareholders in 2015 and 2018 respectively in order to finance construction of two plants in China and facilitate the company’s dynamic expansion to this market.