Cris-Tim opts for two acquisitions and three factories over new 100 million lei plant
Cris-Tim Family Holding has agreed to acquire Via Trend Ready Meals and its subsidiary Snack 4U Concept, replacing a planned 100 million lei greenfield factory. The transaction gives Romania’s largest sausage producer access to three production units and a broader ready-meal and sandwich portfolio.
Existing capacity replaces a greenfield project
Cris-Tim Family Holding has signed an agreement to acquire Via Trend Ready Meals and its subsidiary, Snack 4U Concept, two Romanian producers of prepared meals and sandwiches. Observatorul Prahovean reports that the acquisition replaces Cris-Tim’s previous plan to build a ready-meal factory from the ground up with a budget of approximately 100 million lei. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.
The assets comprise three production units: two owned facilities and one leased site. They are located in Moara Domnească in Ilfov County, Pietroasele in Buzău County and Bucharest. One is a new factory with approximately 8,000 square metres of production space. Cris-Tim said when it listed on the stock exchange that it intended to develop a new ready-meal plant; the company is now taking control of existing infrastructure that it considers comparable in scale.
Target companies bring sales and sandwich expertise
Based on Cris-Tim management’s assessment of the two companies’ combined data for 2023–2025, their average adjusted annual revenue was approximately 143 million lei. Average EBITDA was 21 million lei and average net profit reached 9 million lei. Their estimated combined average EBITDA margin was around 14.5%. Cris-Tim describes sandwiches as a category recording consistent double-digit annual growth.
The transaction’s strategic value therefore extends beyond the targets’ current earnings. Cris-Tim already produces a significant share of the ingredients used in sandwich recipes. Combining that internal supply with Snack 4U’s production expertise and Cris-Tim’s national distribution network could support new product development and improve supply-chain efficiency, according to the company. Acquiring operating sites may also allow the group to add prepared-food capacity without waiting for an entirely new factory to be constructed.
Deal adds to consolidation in a concentrated market
Cris-Tim is Romania’s largest sausage producer by revenue, with sales of approximately 1.16 billion lei in 2025. That was 1.4 times the revenue of Elit, the country’s second-largest producer, and 2.6 times that of fifth-ranked Aldis. The ten largest companies generated around 5.59 billion lei, or 47.2% of sector revenue, and employed 10,906 people.
Romania’s sausage industry recorded combined 2025 revenue of approximately 11.8 billion lei among the 607 companies that filed financial statements. Revenue rose by about 3.7% from 11.42 billion lei in 2024, while aggregate net profit increased by 5.2% to 733 million lei. Employment remained relatively stable at 23,368. The industry has expanded substantially since 2008, when combined revenue was approximately 3.35 billion lei. A notable increase occurred in 2022, when sales advanced from 7.86 billion lei to 9.83 billion lei.
Scale does not automatically produce the highest returns. Fox Com Serv, the fourth-largest company by sales, had the strongest net margin among the top ten at roughly 15.7%, compared with 9.6% for Cris-Tim and 10.5% for Elit. Caroli Foods Group, ranked third by sales, reported a net loss of nearly 21.9 million lei, while Unicarm lost 2.2 million lei. Against this backdrop, Cris-Tim’s move into ready meals and sandwiches broadens its manufacturing base while reinforcing the role of acquisitions in Romania’s processed-food consolidation.
