The general manager of Contec Foods, one of the leading producers of canned vegetables and fruit on the local market, says he is not interested in acquisitions, as the plant acquired in Tecuci allows for the production to at least triple.
"We are not interested in acquisitions because our asset is big enough for us to build more than three or four plants. To my mind, it is more difficult to work with several production centres in different areas because you don't have the same control," he says. According to Aifun Suliman, the potential of the Tecuci-based plant is not yet being taken full advantage of.
"We also have the advantage of having at our disposal one of the biggest vegetable-cultivated areas. We left Bucharest (where the company had a production centre until 2005) because operating costs were too high there," believes the manager of Contec Foods.
The company had its first production centre in a small town in Dolj county. The shareholders later decided to move production closer to Bucharest, due to logistical problems, to the shortage of raw material and to the rather long distance to its main market. After starting production in a rented space close to the Capital, the two Contec shareholders found out that the Tecuci-based plant was for sale.
"We acquired the plant in Tecuci in 2004, following an auction organised by the AVAB (Bank Assets Resolution Authority). We then paid about one million dollars. After this acquisition, we gave up all our other production centres and we concentrated our activity in Tecuci," says Aifun Suliman.
According to the Contec shareholder, the plant acquired in Moldova was the biggest in Romania before 1989, also being the main vegetable and fruit exporter.
"We bought 18 hectares of land and 6 hectares of buildings. It's a big asset, but this also brought us problems when refurbishing the
