Candy (company) - Acquisitions and Sales

Acquisitions and Sales

The growth strategy to face international competition and enter new markets has been built on innovation and diversification of the product range. Acquisitions of brands and manufacturing facilities added up to this effort: La Sovrana, cookers (1970); Kelvinator Italia (1971) and Kelvinator UK (1980), refrigerators; Zerowatt, washing machines and dryers (1985); Gasfire, built-in cooking appliances (1985); Rosières, a leading French brand in cooking and built-in (1987); Mayc-Otsein, Spain, top loading washing machine specialist (1992); Iberna, an Italian leading brand in fridges and freezers (1993).

1995 saw the acquisition of the Hoover European Appliances company, today the European (and Italian) leader in floor-care. The offer widened to large appliances, whose competitive positioning is at the top of the median band segment of the market. The Company subsequently ceased all UK manufacturing with the closure of factories which had each been operation for over half a century. The Wirral Merseyside Candy refrigeration plant was closed in 2002, the Cambuslang Glasgow Hoover Vacuum Cleaner plant in 2004 and finally in 2009 Candy closed the Merthyr Tydfil Hoover Washing Machine/ Tumble Dryer/ Dishwasher plant. These closures left over 800 employees without jobs who saw all UK manufacturing transferred to the Czech Republic, Far East and Turkey under both the Hoover and Candy brands.

Sixty years after the first washing machine, Candy Group acquired (2005) an established Russian brand in washing machine, Vyatka, and its manufacturing site Vesta in Kirov. In mid-2006, the Jinling washing machine brand was acquired in China, together with its industrial facilities, sales network, international operations. Early 2007 saw the acquisition of Doruk in Turkey, owner of the Süsler brand for cooking appliances. The industrial presence in Russia, China, Turkey also means a leading commercial foothold in these fast-growing markets.

In September 2007, an agreement was reached in the Nordic Region for acquiring the exclusive rights on the national brands Helkama and Grepa from Helkama Forste company in Finland. The ranges of appliances are offered dual-branded with Hoover.

At the end of 2008 the Uzbek-Italian Joint Venture Roison-Candy was established by the Uzbek Limited Liability Company Roison Electronics with partnership of Candy Group. New Company is specialized to produce various domestic appliances, in particular, refrigerators and laundry washers based on the cutting-edge technologies.