American food manufacturer Kraft Heinz is reducing its presence in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The company began looking for a buyer for its baby food business. At the same time, the ketchup plant remains the property of the concern. Kommersant learned about this from a source familiar with the proposal.
The concern put up for sale two Heinz-Georgievsk plants in the Stavropol Territory and the Ivanovo baby food plant, which produce more than 30,000 tons of dry, liquid cereals and purees per year. In addition, Kraft Heinz sells the Umnitsa and Sami with a Mustache brands for 3 billion rubles. However, the Petroprodukt-Otradnoye factory in the Leningrad region, which brings Kraft Heinz the main income in Russia, the company decided to keep the plant for the production of ketchups, sauces and canned foods.
According to one of the sources, the concern estimates the Russian baby food business at 2.5-3 billion rubles. Potential buyers could be the Chernogolovka company, which produces drinks, snacks, sweets, including baby food, and family offices.
According to Ilya Shumov, managing director of the investment business department of Rosselkhozbank, due to inflation, the construction of such plants has grown by tens of percent, so interest in the Russian Kraft Heinz baby food business should be high. As the expert noted, this market has always remained resistant to the crisis, although it experienced difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the beginning of 2022, the prices of some baby food products have increased by 100-200%. According to Shumov, this is due not so much to the increase in raw material costs, but to an attempt to maintain or increase the profitability of the business.
Kraft Heinz was formed from the merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods in 2015. The company operates brands such as Kraft, Heinz, Philadelphia and Maxwell House. In 2021, the concern earned more than $26 billion on the global market. According to NielsenIQ, Heinz is one of the five largest companies selling dry baby food in Russia, including FrutoNyanya of Progress Lipetsk, Agusha (PepsiCo), Tema » (Danone).