Yildiz sells yeast unit for €162m

Turkish food group Yildiz Holding has sold its yeast unit Dosu Maya to French firm Le Saffre for €162m.

The trade is the latest in a series of movements from the firm which saw the selling off a 20% stake in its chocolate and biscuit business Ülker for $431m (€318.3m) in October last year and the acquisition of US DeMet’s Candy Company for $221m (€163.2m) earlier this month.

Buying and selling

At the time of DeMet’s acquisition, Yildiz Holding’s vice chairman of the board of directors, Jim Zaza, told our sister site ConfectioneryNews that North America is an important part of Yildiz' international expansion. “The DeMet's Candy Company was identified as a business that has strong and well recognized brands in the United States distributed through major retail and FDM customers with significant opportunities for growth and expansion,” he said.

When the company sold its 20% stake in Ülker the company’s Ülker division chief financial officer, Bora Yalinay, told our sister site that the sale was intended to increase the liquidity of Ülker stock on the Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST).

Yildiz said under the condition of a confidentiality agreement with Le Saffre it could not comment further on the wider implications of the Dosu Maya deal.