Lebanese businessman Jihad El Khalil, one of Romania's major farmers, took over 50% of the spring water producer Aqua Bilbor in a deal estimated by Profit.ro at over EUR 12 mln. The deal was carried out through Agro Chirnogi and Maria Trading, companies owned by the Lebanese investor in Romania.

Aqua Bilbor doesn't boast impressive profits but announced in 2021 a major EUR 10 mln investment program aimed at increasing the production capacity to 100 mln litres per year. In the same year, it reported revenues of under RON 1 mln (EUR 200,000) and losses in the amount of RON 5.6 mln (EUR 1.1 mln).

The investment program involves the acquisition of land to build new bottling and storage capacities, the development of new water sources, and the purchase of machinery.

Between 2022 and 2023, the Aqua Bilbor management has planned investments worth approximately EUR 7.5 mln to increase production and storage capacity to over 100 mln litres per year.

"For this, the purchase of machinery, premises for bottling and storage, a land of 30,000 square meters and new water sources will be necessary. Also, at this moment, the company has 30 employees, and by the end of the year, we could reach 60 employees. With the expansion of the production capacity to over 100 mln litres per year, the staff could double to 120 people in 2023", said Cristian Șerban, Aqua Bilbor's development director.

Funding for the expansion comes from equity, banks and European funds.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)