Best Lock hopes success will be child's play

Best Lock acquired a 20% stake in COBI and both companies announced this fact during the International Toys Fairs in Nurenberg. "We will produce under the joint brand of COBI Best-Lock and sell the toys in over 50 markets. COBI will take care of distribution in Central and Southern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and in India, while Best-Lock will supervise sales across the rest of the world," said Robert Podleś, president of COBI. COBI Best-Lock plans to acquire a 10% share of the $1 billion construction toys market. "Our order books are full for the next six months. In April we will open a new plant in Mielec thanks to which we will double production, while in 2007 we will tripple production in relation to 2005," said Podleś. The investment consumed EUR 500,000. "We need a further EUR 1.5 million to fulfill our ambition," said Podleś. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 8) M.M.