Major European sugar firm gets approval to acquire its sixth Ukrainian facility

The Antimonopoly Committee has allowed "Radekhiv Sugar" LLC, which is owned by the German company Pfeifer & Langen, to buy the assets of "Hnidavskyi Sugar Factory" PJSC in the suburb of Lutsk, according to a message on the AMCU website.

Earlier, AMCU reported that it found grounds for banning the concentration, as it could create threats to competition, but the buyer undertook a number of obligations to prevent this from happening.

Among other commitments, the investor promised to fulfil the following conditions for five years:

→ not to set different conditions for equivalent agreements regarding the processing of sugar beets on preferential terms;
→ not to restrict beet suppliers in the right to independently determine which part they will sell, and which part they will process on pre-contractual terms;
→ not to refuse beet processing without reason;
→ to pay for transportation of beets up to 132 km;
→ to offer long-term contracts (up to three years), but not to limit suppliers in the right to shorter contracts;
→ to give at least 74 kg of sugar per ton of beets on delivery terms, if the supplier is a VAT payer, or 64 kg, if it is not a VAT payer.

Pfeifer & Langen owns five sugar factories in Germany, shares in enterprises in Poland, Romania, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. In Ukraine, production facilities are located in the Lviv and Ternopil oblasts and form five structural divisions: Radekhivskyi, Chortkivskyi, Zbarazkyi, Kozivskyi and Khorostkivskyi.

The Hnidavskyi Sugar Factory is a sugar production enterprise located in Lutsk, which produces products under the trademark "Solodko". The plant can process up to 6,000 tons of sugar beets per day. Yaroslav Halkevych and Yevhen Makara are specified as the ultimate beneficial owners of the plant.