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Centrale del Latte di Torino & C. - a company that together with its subsidiary, Centro Latte Rapallo S.p.A., produces and markets fresh milk, derivatives and ultra-fresh products - listed on the Telematic Stock Exchange from November 3 - has signed an agreement to purchase 40% of the capital stock in Frascheri S.r.l., a company that produces and markets milk and derivatives, with offices and a plant located in Bardineto, province of Savona.
The operation requires the conversion of Frascheri from a private limited company to a joint-stock company and will involve the purchase for 1.4 billion lire of part of the shares belonging to members of the Frascheri family and, simultaneously, by an increase of approximately 2.2 billion lire in capital stock which will be held by Centrale del Latte di Torino & C. S.p.A. The purpose of the latter increase is to fund important investments for the reorganisation of company logistics.
The final closing date for this operation and transfer of the relevant shares is forecast to take place before the end of January 31 next.
In 2000 the Frascheri family company recorded revenues of 15.2 billion lire. It has a workforce of 32, including administrative employees and drivers/salesmen, and a fleet of 24 refrigerated vehicles that distribute its products - mainly fresh and UHT milk - daily to retail and large-scale distribution outlets in the provinces of Savona and Imperia, where the company owns two warehouses.
Per Frascheri l’operazione si inquadra nel rafforzamento dei legami operativi e commerciali già esistenti con la Centrale del Latte di Torino e la controllata Centro Latte Rapallo attraverso la produzione e commercializzazione di latte di alta qualità in bottiglia di vetro, latte fresco al cacao e uova “Fiordovo” oltre che nelle ovvie sinergie operative e di marketing che si potranno creare su territorio.
For Frascheri the operation represents the strengthening of already existing operational and marketing ties with Centrale del Latte di Torino and its subsidiary, Centro Latte Rapallo, as regards production and marketing of bottled Grade A milk, chocolate-flavoured fresh milk and "Fiordovo" eggs, in addition to an obvious operating and marketing synergy within the territory concerned.
For Centrale del Latte di Torino participation in the capital stock of Frascheri is a part of the planned investment announced when the Company went public and will enable it to become one of the leaders in the fresh/ultra-fresh product market in Italy. In addition it is part of the Company's strategy to strengthen the Piedmont/Liguria interregional pole, an area that today has marketing coverage in all four provinces concerned.
Following this same logic it should be mentioned that Centrale del Latte di Torino has provisionally won the second bid in the auction to privatise Centrale del Latte di Vicenza. The increased bid amounted to 49 billion lire compared with a base price in the previous auction of 45 billion lire.
During the course of the first 9 months of 2000 Centrale del Latte di Torino & C. S.p.A. has achieved consolidated net revenues of 83.5 billion lire, a gross operating margin of 6.5 billion lire and an operating income of 1.36 billion lire.
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