OREANDA-NEWS The fact that Danone is considering buying Lipetsk "Progress"(Russia's largest manufacturer of baby food, brands" Frutonyanya "and" Kid"), told two sources in the industry. An official from the administration of the Lipetsk region also heard about the interest of the French company to the asset, but believes that the negotiations are still at an early stage. Danone and Progress declined to comment.

According to a source" Kommersant " familiar with Nielsen data, in November 2018," Progress " occupied about 25% of this market in annual terms. The company also produces mineral water "Lipetsk pump room". The main owners of "Progress" are Olga Belyavtseva and Svetlana Bortsova. In 2018, Forbes estimated their fortune at $ 500 million and $260 million, respectively. Revenue "Progress" in 2017 decreased by 15.7% to 20.3 billion rubles., net profit remained at 3 billion rubles.

Danone is one of the three dairy producers in the country. The portfolio of brands includes "ACTIVIA", "Prostokvashino", etc., baby food is produced under the brands "Tema", "Rastishka", etc. in 2017, the company's revenue in Russia increased by 3% to 115 billion rubles without VAT, calculated in Infoline.

"Progress" was previously part of the juice producer "Lebedyansky" families Fighting mistress Beljavceva and Dmitry Fadeyev. In 2008, PepsiCo acquired 75.53% of Lebedyansky for $ 1.4 billion, consolidating the entire company, but the production of baby food and water was previously allocated to a separate structure. After some time, the owners of "Progress" began to look for buyers for this business. In 2011, it became known about the interest in the asset Nestle (produces baby food under the brands NAN, Nestogen, Gerber), but the parties did not agree on the price. According to a source" Kommersant "in the industry, the owners of" Progress " then estimated the company at $485 million in Nestle did not provide a comment.

Managing partner of Walnut Capital Artem Motor today, estimates the potential cost of "Progress" in the range of 25-35 billion rubles ($381,09–535,53 million at the exchange rate on Friday): "on the one hand, the company is the largest producer of baby food in the country, with another — in the coming years, previous growth rates, the market can be expected". Head of operations in the Russian stock market IC "freedom Finance" George Vashchenko believes that trading for the asset can start from the amount of 25 billion rubles.