Balaban Food is bought by Elvan Group

Competition Authority approved the agreement
Founded in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul, as a small sweet shop, Elvan group keeps growing by acquisitions and mergers. Rising by 12 steps in one year in the top 100 list of Candy Industry Global, Elvan Group has bought the legendary brand of Eskisehir, Cici Cikolota in 2010. With this last buyout, the group’s product line will include biscuits, besides others, wafers and candies for kids. Toto brand of Balaban is the leader in toyed chocolate market. Balaban Food company produces sweet and candy products since 1960 in Sakarya Organized industrial zone and it was bought by Nestle Turkey in 2010. On the occasion, Hidayet Kadiroglu, chairman of Elvan Group, informed about the buy-out agreement, and said, “We export our products to almost every market abroad. With Balaban we provide wider categories to our customers. Balaban has valuable brand and products. It will keep its individual corporate identity.” Hidayet Kadiroglu, explains the fast growth of his company that grows 20 % annually for about 20 years, as having emotional stability. He said, “As a general behavior we did not go faster when the market was good, and slower when the conditions were discouraging. It provide a emotional stability for our family and our business. We got the rewards of this strategy during times of crisis. When competitors loosing shares we kept our pace of growth even up to 35 %. Cici brand, that were bought by us, was the third largest growing company in Turkey during the last three years.”