Two Romanians to take over the Luduș sugar factory from the French group Tereos

The French group Tereos, one of the largest sugar producers in the world, has officially announced that it is going to sell its sugar factory in Luduș, Mureș county, to two Romanian investors from the agri-food sector, Mihaela Neagu and Mihail-Daniel Matache.

The transaction would be completed “in the course of next week,” according to a statement from the French cooperative group. Tereos, which has revenues of 4.5 billion euros per year, had previously announced that it intended to close its operation in Romania, which would have seriously endangered the activity of around 300 Romanian farmers who supplied sugar beet.

“It is a brave project that we have undertaken with the objective of reviving sugar production in the country this year. In 2021, sugar from beets grown in Romania provided approximately 25% of domestic consumption needs. We will start negotiations with farmers in the coming days, as the sugar beet from the autumn 2023 campaign in the Ludus region is to be contracted soon. We want to assure the approximately 300 producers in the region that we are open to collaboration and we also want to assure the more than 150 employees that they will keep their jobs,” stated investor Mihaela Neagu, quoted in the group’s press release.

“We are very happy to have signed with these two investors. This continuation of the activity sustains jobs and maintains sugar activity in the Ludus basin. This sale obviously allows us to stay true to our strategic plan,” said Gérard Clay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tereos cooperative group.

The Luduș Sugar Factory was opened by the communist regime in 1960, but its viability has deteriorated especially since the 80s, due to the moral and physical wear and tear of the equipment.

The Tereos Group entered Romania as early as 1992. It owned the Luduș sugar factory through the company Tereos România SA, which ended 2021 with a turnover of 158 million lei and losses of 7 million lei. Since 2014, the Luduș factory has been making losses. Since 2013, the first year in which Tereos fully owned the factory, the number of employees in the Mures unit has decreased from 220 people to 174 employees in 2021.

Tereos had fully bought the Luduș factory in October 2012, from another French company, Sucreries du Marquenterre. Tereos had previously been a shareholder in the Luduș factory, but sold its 50% stake to Sucreries du Marquenterre in 2007.

In 2021, Tereos, the second largest sugar producer worldwide, decided to abandon its factory in Luduș, as a result of the lack of prospects in the production of beet sugar and the technological deficit of the Mures unit.