Lotus buys popular Dinosaurus biscuits

The Belgian biscuit manufacturer Lotus Bakeries and the Spanish food manufacturer Nutrexpa have staged a joint takeover bid of the Spanish biscuit manufacturer Galletas Artiach. Nutrexpa will take over the entire Galletas Artiach and Lotus Bakeries take the Dinosaurus brand, aquiring the rights to market this children’s brand everywhere except in Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Algeria. The biscuit manufacturer Lu in Herentals currently produces the biscuits for Artiach, but their contract lapses in 2013. Lu is a division of the food concern Mondelez, the former Kraft Foods. Lotus plan to start manufacturing the biscuits in the East Flemish city of Lembeke and will invest 8 million euros in a new production line. It’s not yet known how this will affect LU/Kraft Foods in Herentals. The trade unions estimate that about 50 of the 1 400 jobs could be lost, but the managemnt refused to say anything about it during the extraordinary works council. “Everyone was sidelined by surprise. Even the management,” the unions have commented. After Lotus Frangipane, Dinosaurus is the top selling biscuit in Belgium and the “best selling biscuit concept aimed at the children’s market.” Lotus Bakeries now plan to also launch the biscuits internationally.