FDBusiness.com

Kraft Foods is selling Cadbury’s E. Wedel-branded chocolate and sugar confectionery operations in Poland to Lotte Group for an undisclosed sum. The sale, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, includes the E. Wedel business, its related brands and a manufacturing facility in Warsaw. Approximately 1,000 Cadbury Wedel employees will transfer to Lotte Group.

Kraft Foods will keep the remaining Cadbury business in Poland, including the Halls brand and other non-E. Wedel-branded chocolate and sugar confectionery products sold in Poland and two manufacturing plants in Skarbimierz. Subject to approval by the European Commission, Kraft Foods will also retain a third Cadbury plant in Bielany Wroclawskie, Poland.

Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive of Kraft Foods.

The sale follows the European Commission’s decision to approve Kraft Foods’ acquisition of Cadbury conditional on the disposal of the Cadbury E. Wedel business in Poland and the Cadbury chocolate confectionery and soft-cake business in Romania. The divestiture of the Romanian business will be the subject of a separate announcement at a later date.

Based in Tokyo, Lotte Group is a multinational conglomerate with annual sales of Yen3,547b ($40b). Founded in 1948 as a chewing gum company, it currently operates in a variety of sectors, including food and confectionery, retail, travel and tourism, industrial chemicals and construction, and finance. As the original business, confectionery is at the core of the Lotte Group’s operations. Lotte Group’s confectionery portfolio includes many well-known Asian brands, such as Xylitol, Koala March and Ghana. Lotte Group is the largest chewing gum manufacturer in Asia and third largest in the world.