Marko Pipunić, the owner of Osijek’s Žito, has become a frequent guest in headlines about acquisitions and expansion in the agricultural-food industry.
In addition to owning large tracts of land in Slavonia and being a serious player in crop and livestock farming, his acquisition of Kandit has significantly advanced him into final production, and he already dominates egg production. Pipunić discusses the new plans and ambitions of the rapidly growing company in an interview with Lider.
You are separating Kandit’s confectionery business into a separate company. Will you sell it?
– We have not been involved in the confectionery business so far, and we do not have added value and synergies there as we do with the sugar factory and farms. Moreover, we are in quite a difficult financial situation, needing to invest a lot of money, and Kandit has disappeared from the shelves, although according to some indicators, it has the best chocolate in Croatia. Currently, we will retain all businesses, which does not mean that tomorrow we will not be open to negotiations with someone from the confectionery industry. It is still too early because we first need to sort out the companies in poor condition. It is not realistic for ownership changes to occur in the next year.
