July 4 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian organic products company Smart Organic said it acquired a stake of 70% in smoothie producer Santulita, with an option to buy the remaining 30% within four to six years.
The new majority shareholder will keep Santulita's operations in Sofia and will support its sales, distribution and marketing activities at home and abroad, Smart Organic said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.
Smart Organic will also expand the product portfolio of Santulita, adding a range of organic drinks, it added.
The buyer did not disclose financial details of the transaction.
Sofia-based Santulita is behind the smoothie brand Frudada, produced using fresh fruit and vegetables with no sugar, additives and water.
Smart Organic owns a number of organic snack and food brands, such as Roobar, Dragon Superfoods, Kookie Cat and Bett’r.
In a separate statement on Friday, Smart Organic said that its shareholders approved the distribution of gross dividend of 0.08 levs per share for 2021, or a total of 824,880 levs ($440,680/421,755 euro) out of its net profit of some 9 million levs for last year. It will refer some 902,000 levs to its reserve fund and retain about 7.3 million levs as undistributed profit.
The shareholders also decided to allow the company to buy back up to 300,000 of its own shares of 1 lev par value each, at a purchase price of 30 levs per share.
In April, Bulgaria's innovation ministry announced that Smart Organic will invest 5 million levs in the construction of a new organic foods plant in Bozhurishte, on the outskirts of Sofia.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)