Mexico’s bakery group Bimbo reportedly plans second major takeover in Romania

Update: In a message sent to Romania Insider, Grupo Bimbo representatives said: "We confirm our expansion on the Romanian market and, together with it, our group’s solid purpose to continue to nourish a better world working with valuable and skilled people and bringing quality and relevant products on shelves for our consumers in each country. As Bimbo Romania grows, we will share more of our mission and ambitious projects in the region, and we are grateful for your patience in waiting for more news from us."

Initial story: After it paid some EUR 200 million to take over leading Romanian baker Vel Pitar last January, Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo reportedly reached an agreement for another major deal on the same market, according to Ziarul Financiar and Profit.ro.

Grupo Bimbo has not confirmed the deal, but both sources indicate that the seller is Andrei Siminel, the head of the US investment group that sold Vel Pitar to Bimbo last January. But the details related to the deal, provided by the two sources, are slightly different.

Ziarul Financiar estimates the value of the deal at EUR 100 million “for six bakeries.”

In turn, Profit.ro indicates that the object of the deal is the local bakery group Trei Brutari – where Andrei Siminel announced a 25% stake plus pledged investments on his behalf after the sale of Vel Pitar to Bimbo. At this moment, Profit.ro claims that Siminel and his family own 100% of Trei Brutari bakery group.

But the size of Trei Brutari is much smaller than that of market leader Vel Pitar in terms of sales (EUR 30 million vs. EUR 154 million in the year 2022) and profit (EUR 3.7 million vs. EUR 18 million), not explaining the high price indicated by Ziarul Financiar (EUR 100 million).

Separately, Ziarul Financiar speaks of “six bakeries” sold by Andrei Siminel, while Trei Brutari has three production centers (bakeries) in Targoviste, Buzau, and Iasi.

(Photo source: Arne9001/Dreamstime.com)