Godiva Chocolatier

Godiva Chocolatier, the Belgian manufacturer of gourmet chocolates, has agreed to sell parts of its Asia-Pacific business to private equity firm MBK Partners, Godiva CEO Annie Young-Scrivner told Reuters on Feb 20.

Annie Young-Scrivner, who has rich experiences in global retail industry, has been named the new chief executive of famous chocolate maker Godiva, Turkey's Yıldız Holding, which owns Godiva, has said. 

In a statement on July 28, the company said she will start her new job on Sept. 14, replacing Mohamed Elsarky. 

The first sound I hear upon entering İzmir's Chocolate Festival is the piercing wail of a seven-year-old boy crying that there is no place left for the kids chocolate-making workshop. His mother, a long-legged 20-something who looks like she never let a single chocolate cross her lips, tells him she will get him to the next one.

Yıldız Holding, which is home to global brands such as Godiva and United Biscuits, set up the Sabri Ülker Center at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2014 with a $24 million donation. The holding has 56,000 staff on four continents; they have made $3.6 billion in investments in the past five years.  

Biscuit maker Ülker's $400 million worth of stake sales to its British holding, Pladis, was a business decision and not motivated by Turkey's domestic politics, Turkish food giant Yıldız Holding has said, Reuters reported on Dec. 26. 

Yıldız Holding has decided to sell 71.8 million shares of Ülker Bisküvi, Turkey's largest cookie and biscuit company, to its wholly owned unit Pladis as part of a strategy. 

"Yıldız Holding will be the indirect owner of the Ülker Bisküvi shares through Pladis," said the company in a written statement on Dec. 23. 

The sale will represent 21 percent of the company.

Yıldız Holding chair Murat Ülker said that the group, which has grown through a series of key global acquisitions for the last couple of years, will make over 5 billion Turkish Liras ($1.7 billion) in investment in Turkey over the next five years. 

Turkey's leading biscuits and confectionary group, Y?ld?z Holding, has reorganized its global brands, De Met's, Godiva, United Biscuits and Ülker, under the Pladis umbrella, forming a new global giant with annual revenue of $5.2 billion and 26,000 employees.

People?s chocolate consumption remains unaffected during times of crises, according to Murat Ülker, the chairman of Y?ld?z Holding which owns Ülker, the largest food company in Turkey.

?Nothing changes in the chocolate and biscuit consumption of the people,? he said during an interview with daily Hürriyet.

Ak G?da, the dairy unit of Turkey?s largest food group Y?ld?z Holding, said on March 13 that it had applied to the Capital Markets Board (SPK) for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to 45 percent of the company.