Overview
In Almaty City, Kazakhstan, on 2nd of July 2013 – “Rakhat” JSC, the leading confectionery company of Kazakhstan, and LOTTE Confectionery, the leading confectionery company of South Korea, officially declared that LOTTE Confectionery has concluded a contract to acquire approximately 76% of outstanding shares of "Rakhat" JSC.
This transaction will contribute to further development of fruitful economic and cultural relations between Kazakhstan and South Korea, where the prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation reached new qualitative level as a result of the official visit of the President of South Korea Lee Myung Bak to Kazakhstan in September 2012 on the invitation of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev.
"Rakhat" JSC originated in 1942 and became today the largest Kazakh confectionery company with a leading position in the market of chocolate, sugar and flour confectionery products, with an annual turnover of approximately 29.4 billion tenge (about 197 million US dollars) as on 2012. The company is headquartered in Almaty city, and manufacturing facilities are located in Almaty and Chimkent cities; the total number of employees is about 3000 people. "Rakhat" has a widespread distribution network throughout Kazakhstan, as well as in Russia, countries of Central Asia and Germany.
The company keeps growing due to high awareness of the brand and the excellent quality of its products.
LOTTE Confectionery is a subsidiary of the 5th largest conglomerate in South Korea - LOTTE Group, and the leading confectionery company in South Korea with its headquarters in Seoul. LOTTE Group includes 79 subsidiary companies with a total annual turnover of 75 billion US dollars as on 2012 showing an annual double-digit growth. LOTTE Group was originally established in 1967 as a confectionery company and subsequently it expanded into other areas such as food industry, retail trade, tourism, construction and petrochemicals.
Over the past few decades LOTTE Confectionery has been ranking the 1st player position with the largest share of the confectionery market in South Korea, as well as developing new markets outside of South Korea following its strategic target to become a confectionery company №1 in Asia.
Mr. Yong Soo Kim, President of LOTTE Confectionery, said: "The company LOTTE Confectionery is very happy to take a stable position in Kazakh confectionery market through acquisition of "Rakhat" JSC. This deal is the largest acquisition of LOTTE Confectionery since we appropriated Parry's Confectionery in India in 2004, which will allow us to significantly expand our presence in booming markets of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. "Rakhat" JSC is the leading company in Kazakhstan with a very strong brand, excellent reputation of products quality among consumers and well-established distribution network. We intend to help the brand "Rakhat" to reach the next level while maintaining the high quality of the products through implementation of science and technology researches, as well as the Quality Control System used in LOTTE Confectionery. We are very proud that this transaction will enhance economic, business and cultural cooperation and relationship between Kazakhstan and South Korea".