British Unilever bought Ice Cream Factory Ltd. located in Veliko Tarnovo, which produces ice creams under the Denny Ice Cream brand. Transaction size was not announced. The deal is subject to approval by the Commission for Protection of Competition. Unilever’s Bulgarian ice cream unit and the company will merge into a new structure that will be part of Unilever South Central Europe and Tsvetan Tsvetanov, founder of Ice Cream Factory Ltd., will be the Managing Director.
Ice Cream Factory Ltd. was founded in 1993 as a family business. The company produces the whole range of ice creams – on a stick, in a cone, family (big packages), for restaurants and bars, cakes, etc. In 2017, 65% of sales were made in Bulgaria, 15% in the EU and 20% in third countries. 2017 revenue amounted to BGN 12.2 M with a profit of BGN 2.2 M. According to Denny’s Marketing Manager, the company is the second largest player in Bulgaria in terms of sales with a market share of about 15% in volume and about 12% in value.
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of beauty and personal care products, home care, food and beverages, which reach up to 2.5 Bn users a day in over 190 countries. The corporation has 161,000 employees, sales of €53.7 Bn in 2017 and holds over 400 brands, including Persil, Dove, Knorr, Domestos, Hellmann, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Lynx. In Southern and Central Europe, Unilever is working in the food, home care and personal hygiene sector through Unilever South Central Europe and Unilever Romania. This is not the first deal of Unilever on the Bulgarian ice cream market. In 2011, the company became the owner of Darko, acquiring the rights to the brands, distribution network and production lines from the private equity fund Balkan Accession Fund, which invested in Darko in 2007. Unilever works on the Bulgarian ice cream market under the Algida brand and owns additional brands as well – Eskimo, Big Milk, Cornetto, Carte D’Or, Magic, Twister.
