"Knjaz Miloš" bought brand "Moć prirode" - about 1.5m EUR to be invested in development of fruit juices

- Company "Knjaz Miloš" is the new owner of brand "Moć prirode". Benefits from this cooperation will be enjoyed by all employees in both companies, consumers, partners, manufacturers of raw materials, fruit growers and Serbian economy as a whole - it was pointed out at the press conference that was held in Belgrade.

- Purchase of brand "Moć prirode" is not a classical acquisition, but procurement of one of the trademarks of company "Agroekonomik" from Belgrade. The benefits from sale of the brand will be enjoyed by both "Knjaz Miloš" and company "Agroekonomik", which deals with production of food products from fruit and vegetables, and it will keep packing juices for "Knjaz Miloš" - said Rade Pribićević, the Manager of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in "Danube Foods Group", a part of which is "Knjaz Miloš".

Slaven Živić, the Director General of company "Knjaz Miloš", said that that company had ambitious plans, and that they were ready to invest in further development of that brand, relying, of course, on positive image and position it had developed in the past, but he did not want to reveal the purchase price of the brand.

- We will invest about 1.5m EUR in improvement of the supply system, purchase of fruits, production, and marketing. The market share of "Moć prirode" is about 2%, while our "Golf" juices, of which share in the catering market amounts to about 40%, cover about 3% of total market. We plan our market share to reach about 15% by the end of year 2010 - Živić explained.

(Slaven Živić, Rade Pribićević, Slavica Popović)

The CEO of "Knjaz Miloš" pointed out that their name would be good guarantee for purchasers of fruits, and that it would improve competition in that field.

Speaking of export, he said that, for the time being, the company was exporting to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia.

- "Moć prirode" is not an unknown brand in these countries. It has tradition. We will maintain continuity in these markets, and even improve the sales later - said he.

Rade Pribićević pointed out that DFG's great experience and successful privatizations that characterized the operations of that company represented the best guarantee that the cooperation would be successful and that company "Knjaz Miloš" had the best intentions for "Moć prirode".

- All brands within DFG's portfolio are either leaders or among the leading brands in their categories in our market, and we have the same plans for brand "Moć Prirode" - said Pribićević.

Slavica Popović, the Marketing Manager in "Knjaz Miloš", explained that, from the viewpoint of marketing, brand "Moć prirode", which used to be synonym for innovations and the pioneer of organic growing of fruits and vegetables in Serbian market, was the brand of priceless value and creative challenges.