French group Lactalis has appointed Italian Giampaolo Manzonetto as general manager of Albalact, its biggest business in Romania.

The 45-year old Italian manager has been managing Parmalat Romania since 2003 and took over as general manager of Lactalis Romania and LaDorna, the French group’s other local companies, in 2014. However, Albalact is the biggest company he will manage in Romania.

Romanian Irina Mandoiu, Albalact’s commercial director, will become deputy general manager. She has been working for Albalact since 2005 and in the last 12 years she has built and managed the company’s distribution, operations, sales, and trade marketing strategy.

The Albalact group had sales of EUR 115 million, in 2015, including the operations of its subsidiary Raraul. Last year, Lactalis bought the majority stake in Albalact from local investor Raul Ciurtin and the investment fund RC2 and then launched a public offer on the Bucharest Stock Exchange for the remaining shares.

The French group paid in total some EUR 76 million for the Romanian dairy producer, which owns some of the most popular dairy brands in Romania, namely Zuzu, Fulga, Albalact, and Raraul.

Giampaolo Manzonetto will have the challenging task to integrate the businesses Lactalis owns in Romania. The French group has become the local dairy market leader after Albalact’s takeover, with some EUR 170 million in sales, according to Ziarul Financiar estimates.

This was the group’s second acquisition on the local market after buying LaDorna from Jean Valvis in 2008. The French group has also reached a deal with American fund SigmaBleyzer to take over local dairy producer Covalact. The transaction needs to be approved by the Competition Council first.

editor@romania-insider.com