Godiva was founded in 1926 in Brussels, Belgium, by Joseph Draps who opened his first boutique in the Grand Place in Brussels. The first Godiva shop outside Belgium was opened in Paris on the fashionable Rue St. Honoré in 1958. In 1966, the company’s products reached the United States, where they were sold at luxury malls. The following year, it was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company. In 1972, the first Godiva boutique in North America was opened on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Godiva continues to operate and own more than 450 shops worldwide. The company issues six seasonal mail order catalogs a year in the USA and also accepts online and telephone orders for their products. Godiva chocolate are also sold in local malls and mini shops

Ulker Group Strikes with Belgian Chocolatier GODIVA’s Acquisition

Godiva, a Belgium chocolate business renowned for its premium quality chocolate delights was officially sold to Yıldız Holding,On December 20, 2007, the owner of Turkey’s 61 year old Ulker Group, a biscuit & chocolates conglomerate, for $ 850 million. The same was confirmed later when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yildiz Holding shared the acquisition story with journalists recently.

This deal was greeted as a welcome surprise, just ahead of the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid ul Adha), giving the confident Turkish economy, a chocolaty outlook than ever.

The acquisition was completed on March 18, 2008, for $850 million

``Godiva, a premium chocolate business, was owned by the Philadelphia food company, Campbell South since 1974. It was put on sale when a strategic review reported that exotic luxuries like chocolates were strategically unfit for a company engrossed in mass-market products.

Godiva was bidded for by major international food giants and conglomerates, like Hershey, Mars, Nestle and Lindht but Ulker Group, the largest consumer goods company in the Turkish Food Industry, with an assortment of biscuits, cookies, chocolates, confectionery, beverages & dairies to offer, stood tall when the official verdict was out.

This acquisition was a definite achievement for Ulker Group and in line with their business strategies of expanding vertically through mergers & acquisitions rather than growing horizontally. Amid global fluctuations, this business deal came at an economically viable time and will facilitate the Ulker Group to diversify its portfolio and reinstate its brand image through an international name in the regional and global markets.

Although Yıldız Holding prides in its extended operations in packaging, industrial products, finance, telecommunications, and other sectors, its soul and leading brand remains in the Ulker Group. The 'Ülker Division' is responsible for the Group's core businesses, including cookies, crackers and chocolates. The Division is the mainstay of the Group, handling various additional and related product categories like cakes, flour, chewing gum and baby food.

It is renowned for achieving the highest level of quality for its products and is attested by the fact that

Ulker Group was conferred with the "Candy Company of the Year in Europe" award from the European Candy Kettle Club in 2004.

Simultaneously, the Food Division of the Ulker Group has been aggressively involved in the production and management of the Group's oil and fats, soft drinks, dairy products, starch & ready-made food products.

Quoted as per the official site, Ulker group has expanded into 7 divisions, internationally exporting to over 95 countries.

The corporate family ratings of Ulker Group were revised from B1 to Ba3 in October this year by Moody in light of the company's solid position in the local food market, its high profitability, strong financial metrics and adequate liquidity position.

Bearing Ulker's growth and vision in mind, this deal is being viewed as a success story for the Turkish economy since $ 850 million is the largest amount of money a Turkish firm has ever paid in acquisition of a foreign firm.

Ülker's Biscuits, Chocolate and Cake division President Ali Ulker said that the purchase of the world-renowned brand Godiva was a step towards the company becoming a regional power since it already holds dominance on the Turkish territory. According to the Ulker's Corporate Relations Director General, Zuhal Seker Tucker, Ulker is undoubtedly the market leader in the Turkish chocolate industry holding a market share of 60%.

The centre-stage of this take-over would primarily be Ulker Group's dauntless entry into the global markets. A company which has strong roots and brand presence in the Middle East and Turkish Republics would pave a new route to the global markets through Godiva. Hence, the management of Yildiz Holding is planning to establish a joint Turkish-American board of directors' panel for Godiva to shed new perspective and light but simultaneously ensuring retention of the brand's soul.

Commenting on when Turkey would witness the launch of the first Godiva boutique, Yildiz Holding CEO, Atilla Kurama commented that Yildiz Holdings viewed Godiva as a stand-alone company and would continue to treat it like that.

Articol:Emerging multinationals haven’t absorbed their acquisition. One ex is Godiva (Ulker purchase)

which allowed their acquisition to remain separate organization and have given them almost complete operational freedom even if they are in a related business. Independence doesn’t result in dramatically lower costs, but it does allow emerging giants to avoid mistakes. Creating common procedures and reporting relationships is complex and consumes significant management time, whose costs outweigh the monetary benefits of the integrations.

Ulker used a hands-off approach to Godiva Chocolatier – which the Turkish food and beverages group acquired in december 2007.

After the meeting with Murat Ulker, the CEO of Godiva turned his scepticism into interest, because he realised their potential and the was thrilled by the idea of a stand-alone organisation.

After the takeover Ulker participated in the meeting and decision making and the level of support from them was very strong. This approach was good because Ulker was a real support for Godiva.

One of the best things Ulker did after the takeover was to make it clear that they believed in Godiva’s management, which created a foundation of trust and respect, critical for postmerger success.

Ulker had a lot of good things like technologies, global thinking, people who are great at negociations and a lot of ideas about where Godivas should invest.