Turkish Giant Yildiz Spins Off Confectionery and Biscuit Operations

08 June 2016 --- Turkish food conglomerate Yildiz Holdings is hiving off its confectionery and biscuit businesses into a new entity called Pladis, saying the new business will allow it to be more "agile" and save costs.

Pladis will be made up of UK biscuit brand McVitie's; Turkish confectionery brands Ulker; Belgium premium chocolate brand Godiva; and US confectionery company DeMet's Candy Company.

Pladis had overall revenues of around £5.2bn last year.

According to reports, Yildiz plans to list Pladis by 2020 on the London Stock Exchange by 2020.

The move comes as Yildiz, Turkey’s biggest food producer whose interests also span cooking oils, frozen foods and cosmetics, looks to become more ambitious as a global operator.

Yildiz believes that by hiving off Pladis it will allow it to be more agile, save costs, and bring more products to market.

Murat Ulker, chairman of Yildiz Holding, said, “Establishing pladis is the first step in realizing the long-term strategy of Yildiz Holding.

“We are bringing together some of the world’s best loved brands and combining their 350 years of experience to form a new family company. We will be a global leader in biscuits and confectionery, and bring ‘bites of happiness’ to every corner of the world.”

Pladis will employ 26,000 staff and be headed up by the current executive deputy chairman of Yildiz, Cem Karakas.

Cem Karakas said: “We have significant growth ambitions for pladis with the aim to outperform the category standard year-on-year.”

“This is supported by our capital position and the strength of our manufacturing as one of only two companies in the world that produce such a broad range of biscuits and confectionery. “

“As one global family, we can be more agile, allowing us to innovate around our products and develop more brand synergies - which are already benefitting our business.”

The name Pladis is named after the ‘Pleiades’ constellation, a group of seven stars visible from anywhere on earth.

Mohamed Elsarky, CEO pladis Americas, states, “It is an important part of our heritage and our future as we begin our new journey together as pladis.”

“I am excited by the opportunity to keep growing as part of this new family with our customers and colleagues in the America’s, and people who love our products everywhere.”

Yildiz purchased United Biscuits in 2014 for $2.9bn, prior to which IT purchased Belgian premium chocolate brand Godiva in 2008 for $850m.