EI-backed management buy-out of Agros Fortuna

A group of Agros Fortuna managers supported by the Enterprise Investors (EI) fund will acquire more than 90% of shares in the company - Poland's second largest juice manufacturer - from Pernod Ricard. EI then plans to merge Fortuna with Sonda, another juice manufacturer, in which it holds a 23% stake. "We need the approval of the Interior Ministry for this transaction, as real estate will also change hands. I expect that the deal will be finalized in September," said Ryszard Wojtkowski, a partner at EI. However, Wojtkowski would not discuss further plans for Agros Fortuna, saying only that he always expected this company to consolidate the [juice] sector around itself. In 2001, Agros Fortuna recorded profits of zl. 700,000 on revenues of zl. 483 million. Meanwhile, Sonda managed to profit zl. 7 million on zl. 280 million in revenues. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) T.J.