Illinois-based Mondelez International Inc. announced it will pay $370 million to acquire an 80% majority stake in Vietnam’s largest confectionary producer, Kinh Do Corp’s snack business. Mondelez already has a minor presence in Vietnam marketing its Oreo, Ritz, and Cadbury products, but this deal will give Mondelez the ability to build scale in the market where 60% of the country’s population is below 30 years of age, in line with the company’s Asian growth plan. The deal includes two Kinh Do manufacturing facilities as well as its distribution network, and Mondelez will have the option to buy the remaining shares of the snack business one year after the closing of the initial deal, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2015. Mondelez has seen difficulties in its Asian-Pacific markets. When adjusted for currency, sales are down 3% year to date on weak demand for biscuits in China and ill-advised actions on the part of the company. However, in the quarter ending September 30, China’s sales were up in the high single digits, boosted in part by strong sales of the company’s new thin Oreos.
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