Pfeifer und Langen's plans to merge sugar mills gather pace

Pfeifer und Langen (PuL), the German owner of 11 domestic sugar plants, plans to merge four of them, which still operate independently, with Cukrownia Gniezno, a sugar group which controls two plants. These plans are to be executed by the end of the year. "In the first phase we have merged five sugar plants into one entity. Pfeifer und Langen Polska was formed. Now we want the plants located in Zduny, Witaszyce, Zbiersko, and Głogów to become a part of Gniezno," said Janusz Pierun, the representative of PuL in Poland. This is part of a wider step to merge all the entities into one company. This would significantly decrease management costs. "We want to create an efficient company before the country joins the EU. We are waiting for permission from the Interior Ministry to transfer the remaining shares it owns in our sugar refineries to the National Sugar Company (KSC). We will then buy them and consolidate both sugar companies," said Pierun. Also a decision will be made which of the plants will be closed down, as the investor plans to keep only four out of the eleven refineries. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9) A.K.