Red October Buys Out Kraft Jacobs

<BR>An extraordinary shareholders' meeting at ZAO Kraft Jacobs Suchard Petroconf passed the decision to rename the enterprise ZAO Konditerskaya Fabrika im. K. Samoilova (Krasny Oktyabr)[K. Samoilova Confectionery Factory (Red October)], and selected a new board of directors.<BR>The meeting marked the completion of a deal selling a 99.8% share packet. The seller is Kraft Jacob Suchard CEEMA. The buyer is AO Moskovskaya Konditerskaya Fabrika Krasny Oktyabr [Moscow Confectionery Factory Red October]. The price of the deal remains a commercial secret. According to Dp's sources, payment is to be made in instalments. The official explanation of the sale of Kraft's shares is a lack of correlation between the confectionery manufactured by Petroconf, and the company's main area of activity. This version was confirmed to DP's correspondent by Kraft's president, Edward Rowland.<BR>Of the five directors who have joined the new board of directors, four are Muscovites. The St Petersburg representative, Vladimir Arsenov, acting chairman of Petroconf's board of directors, was selected by the general director.<BR>Vladimir Arsenov announced the factory's first and priority task to be making products cheaper and developing the supply network. According to DP's sources, the factory's old system of supplying the regions was destroyed when Kraft arrived, has not been replaced. <BR> According to Vladimir Arsenov, enterprise employees are today involved in resurrecting old contacts. The plan is to return to the old sales style: to deliver goods directly to retail networks, and work with small wholesale companies. The possibility of creating a network of shops has also been noted.<BR>Another task is redesigning packaging. First, new suppliers of packaging materials have to be found. Arsenov says that packaging may be imported from Turkish manufacturers. Printing, however, will be carried out in Russia (St Petersburg, Russia).