November 12 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian unit of Croatian distributor of fast-moving goods Orbico plans to expand its operations on the local market by buying or renting warehouse space in the large Bulgarian cities in the medium term, a company official said on Monday.
The Bulgarian company, named Kaven Orbico, recently rented 22,000 square metres of warehouse space in a planned 150 million levs ($112.3 million/76.6 million euro) logistics facility in the town of Elin Pelin, near the capital Sofia.
“This a build-to-suit model, under which we rent it with the option to buy it later […] This will take place after it is completed,” logistics and customer service manager Georgi Hristov told SeeNews but declined to disclose the value of the future deal.
The project will run in three stages within the next three years, with Kaven Orbico gradually occupying larger areas of the warehouse, starting in May.
Kaven Orbico will proceed by renting or buying warehouse space in the country’s second largest city of Plovdiv and the Black Sea cities of Varna and Burgas, and is holding talks with real estate consultancy Colliers International on the matter, Hristov said. He added in general the company's policy was to own its premises.
The company, which recently bought the infrastructure and know-how of the local logistics firm K-I Logistics for an undisclosed sum, does not plan any further acquisitions of companies, he said.
“Kaven Orbico bought a logistics services provider and thus closed the domestic supply chain cycle,” Hristov said. He added the acquisition would probably boost company revenue but did not quote figures.
Prior to buying K-I Logistics, Kaven Orbico was active only in distribution.
Croatian distributor Orbico operates also in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Macedonia. It distributes the consumer products of Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Braun, SC Johnson, tobacco company Philip Morris, battery maker Duracell and food group MasterFoods.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)