06 01 2008 - Godiva sold to Turkish Yildiz Holdings

How do they think they can sell a global, luxury product which appeals to a niche market, as a made in Turkey product, like turkish delights, kebabs and sticky sweets? Perhaps they intend to rebrand it as Lady Hanoum Godiva and sell it with lukum at street stalls……..
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article3082943.ece
December 21, 2007
Godiva transforms into a Turkish delight
Campbell Soup Company has sold the luxury Godiva Chocolatier to the Istanbul-based Yildiz Holding for $850m
Carl Mortished, World Business Editor
The sticky but exquisitely Belgian world of pralines, truffles and cocoa butter is about to be transported to the land of Turkish Delight.

Godiva Chocolatier, the Belgian chocolate maker, is to being sold by Campbell Soup Company to Yildiz Holding, a firm based in Istanbul that owns Ulker Group, a Turkish biscuit conglomerate.

Yildiz is paying Campbell $850 million (£423.5 million) to secure control of Godiva.

The Philadelphia soup company has owned the luxury chocolate business since 1974 but decided in August to put it up for sale after a strategic review concluded that exotic chocs did not sit well in a firm devoted to mass-market products, such as V-8, the drinks brand, soups, tinned spaghetti and pet food.

The buyer, Yildiz Holding, owns Ulker, a big Turkish conglomerate with a major business in food, manufacturing biscuits, sweets as well as chocolate.

Ulker had sales of $7.4 billion last year and recently claimed a 57 per cent share of the Turkish chocolate market.

Douglas Conant, the chief executive of Campbell, was pleased with the price obtained for Godiva, which he said represented a multiple of nearly 15 times Godiva's earnings before interest, tax and depreciation.

"The sale price reflects the strength of Godiva's business," he said, and suggested that the deal would allow Campbell to sharpen its focus on simple meals — soups, snacks and beverages.

Analysts had been hoping for an even higher price for Godiva, suggesting a figure of $1 billion.

The sale of Godiva is another victory for globalisation and the steady advance of emerging market firms into European and North American sectors.

However, it is unclear how the Godiva business will fit within Ulker's food manufacturing operations and distribution channels, which have more in common with the logistical machine of the Campbell Soup Company than a specialist luxury brand.

Godiva was founded in 1926, when Joseph Draps, a Brussels artisan, opened a shop in Grande Place in the Belgian capital, using the legend of Lady Godiva, who rode naked through the streets of Coventry, to represent the sensuous appeal of his chocolates.

Today, the business has sales of $500 million through its own boutiques, franchised shops, posh department stores and over the internet.

It still makes chocolates in Belgium but it also has a factory in the US, where the firm has been selling its chocolates since 1966.

Ulker knows that they couldn't be able to boom the sales of Godiva as its already a pretty good seling brand and they also aware that the market is niche..the strategy in here is to let the world know more about Ulker, which is a giant brand worths more than $7bilion US at the moment..
Owning the Godiva brand will make the market penetrations much easier for the new markets that Ulker has been planing to enter..
So, it doesnt really matter for Ulker to loose or make money out of the Godiva deal but as it can be seen from here that Ulker's strategy has already started to work..
Well done Ulker..

Faruk, Istanbul, Turkey

The central market place of Brussels is named the ''Grand Place'' not ''Grande Place''...

francis, new york, usa

How do they think they can sell a global, luxury product which appeals to a niche market, as a made in Turkey product, like turkish delights, kebabs and sticky sweets? Perhaps they intend to rebrand it as Lady Hanoum Godiva and sell it with lukum at street stalls.

Paul Norris, Southampton, UK

A.M.