Varna-based New Capital Management, which owns grain trading company Agrix, plans to acquire Vidin-based sunflower oil producer Olimex. The notified acquisition was recently approved by the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC). The two companies are still negotiating the price, two sources told the Capital Weekly. No ownership changes have been entered yet into the Commercial Register.
The prospective buyer
New Capital Management has 11 subsidiaries engaged in domestic and foreign trade in grain and sunflower and other seeds. It also has a significant division active in construction and real estate. The group does not have its own sunflower oil production. Ultimate owners are Kevork Krikoryan and Krasimir Dimov as individuals.
In 2022 the group reported almost 413 million levs (211 million euro) in consolidated revenue (a 17% increase compared to 2021) and a net profit of just under 5 million levs. More than 90% of the turnover came from trade in agricultural products and edible oil sales accounted for 2.6% of the revenue. The company has also started the construction of a residential complex, Varna View Residence, comprising 11 buildings with a total built-up area of over 49,000 sq. m.
New Capital Management declined to comment on the deal.
The oil producer
Olimex is a family company that produces refined and unrefined oil, including under its own brand Vida, as well as hulled sunflower seeds, sunflower meal and husks. It was registered in 1995 by partners Andrian Alexandrov and Miglena Alexandrova.
Over the years, Olimex has consistently invested in buildings and new technologies at its base in the village of Pokrayna, near the city of Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria, with part of the funds coming from the EU Rural Development Program. The company employs 98 people. For 2022 it reported 53 million levs revenue (a 3.7% increase year on year) and 5.9 million levs profit.
Boom and bust
In 2022 Bulgarian sunflower oil factories set a record, exporting products worth over 3 billion levs. However, the export boom did not continue in 2023: official statistics show that by September exports were worth just over 1 billion levs. Besides the price drop, the reason for the fall in exports was the shortage of sunflower seeds faced by processors due to farmers' unwillingness to sell their stocks at market prices, expecting a price increase.
According to the register of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, there are 107 facilities for production and/or bottling of vegetable oils in the country, 27 of which are solely bottling vegetable oils. A sector analysis by the CPC shows that local oilseeds processors sell about 90% of their output on foreign markets.
Varna-based New Capital Management, which owns grain trading company Agrix, plans to acquire Vidin-based sunflower oil producer Olimex. The notified acquisition was recently approved by the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC). The two companies are still negotiating the price, two sources told the Capital Weekly. No ownership changes have been entered yet into the Commercial Register.
