 RUSSIA IN FACTS |
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28 November 2003 21:49
Confectioner Korkunov mulls IPO
MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) - The Odintsovo Confectionery Plant, which sells chocolates under the A. Korkunov
trademark, aims to hit the international financial markets in 18 months to two years, possibly with an IPO.
The company will either offer shares on a western exchange or seek investments from a private foreign fund, Andrei
Korkunov, the company's president, told Interfax.
"All of our efforts are geared towards this important step. We need to create a transparent structure and prove
that we are able to grow rapidly," Korkunov said.
Korkunov said he was confident the company could raise its turnover to $300 million fairly rapidly. Turnover could
rise from $36 million in 2002 to $52 million in 2003. "In the middle of the year we expected $44 million, but we
overshot our target," Korkunov said.
The company will increase turnover by producing more in the way of luxury chocolates and by launching a new,
$20-million factory in Odintsovo, just outside Moscow, on January 15, 2004.
The factory, fitted out by Italy's OPM, will have a line in Ritter Sport chocolate for Germany's Alfred
Ritter GmbH & Co KG, with which an agreement has been signed. The parties will each provide half the investment.
Korkunov also said the new factory would boost output to 24,000 tonnes of confectionery annually, but a further $4
million-$5 million of investment could add another 10,000 tonnes of capacity.
The Odintsovo factory, which opened in 1999, is one of Russia's biggest producers of premium chocolates.
Korkunov products account for about 17% of the Russian market for wrapped chocolates and more than 70% of the premium
chocolate market.
The company is targeting output of about 6,000 tonnes in 2003, up from 3,000 tonnes last year. It exports some of its
output to the United States, where sales could reach $10 million in the next two or three years. [RU ASIA EUROPE EEU
EMRG FOD IPO MRG STX FUND WEU US RESF CORA IT DE TRD] pr <>
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