Toplica Spasojević, ITM Group – We are willing to set aside about 2.5m EUR for IMT's land in Dobanovci

Toplica Spasojević (Photo: ekapija)

- Belgrade-based ITM Group plans to invest minimum 5m EUR in development of the sectors of agriculture and precision mechanics in 2010, and the investments in Serbia will be financed from the company's own funds and banking loans because additional capitalization is not an option at the moment - Toplica Spasojević, one of the Group's owners, told eKapija.

Spasojević announced in the interview that he gave during the Business Forum on Kopaonik that ITM Group would start business cooperation in the field of logistics in late March with one of the biggest food companies in the country and that the Group's plans included construction of new cold storage plant for frozen vegetables in Apatin and procurement of IMT's land in Dobanovci. ITM Group also considers starting production of the means for industrial cleaning for Russian market, as well as establishing strategic partnership with Turkish partners.

eKapija: You have announced a business cooperation with one of the leaders in the sector of food industry in Serbia. What kind of cooperation do you have in mind and with which company?

- ITM Group will take over complete operations of that company in the field of logistics and we have already made the first steps. The name of the company will, most probably, be revealed during this week. The job will include three phases and our plan is to have about 1,000 people and 500 vehicles. It is most likely that we will be using part of their resources, while certain part will have to be procured. We have not checked the state of their transportation means and storage capacities yet. Anyway, we expect the annual turnover to be larger than 20m EUR and this job to position us as one of the biggest leaders in the region.

eKapija: ITM Group invested 2.5m EUR in construction of new cold storage plant in Apatin in 2009. How much money do you intend to invest in the agriculture sector this year?

- We have, so far, invested 10.5m EUR in the factory of frozen vegetables and we plan to invest another 2m EUR in cold storage plants in Apatin. ITM Group doubled its capacities for production of frozen vegetables in May 2009, from 5,000 to 10,000 tons, while the units for peas and string beans were reconstructed. This year we will increase the storage capacity from 5,000 to 10,000 tons. We will also work on development of logistics - we are going to buy ten more vehicles for transportation of frozen vegetables at the temperature of -18 C. We also think about opening a small storage capacity in Belgrade, which we need in order to develop the logistics. New cold storage plant, worth about 2.5m EUR, is composed into the existing units, while modern motor pool is supplemented with combine Ploeger worth 500,000 EUR. We expand our capacities for the needs of our brand Yupik, as well as for the needs of service packaging for our partners Delta Agrar, Frikom and Podravka.

eKapija: What are the plans for development of the sector of precision mechanics?

- We plan to move the existing unit from the city center in 2010 and now a suitable location is being sought. We plan to spend about 2.5m EUR on that project. The negotiations with the Privatization Agency on the unit in Dobanovci are in progress and we are waiting for them to announce the tender. If we don't buy that location, we will have to build a unit on the territory of the city prior to June.

eKapija: Do you speak about IMT's land?

- Yes, we wait for the auction for sale of that land and we hope it will take place already in March. The surface of the land is 10 ha, but agricultural land occupies only 5 ha. We need maximum 5 ha, but we are willing to take the whole parcel. The price will be determined by the market, that is, public auction, but I think that the prices in that location range between 20 and 30 EUR per square meter, so that total price should not exceed 3m EUR.

ekapija: Is ITM Group willing to give that amount of money for the land?

Yes.

eKapija: ITM Group successfully operates in several foreign markets and it is especially active in Russia. What are the Group's plans for development in that country?

- When it comes to the markets outside Serbia, we are mainly present in their trade sectors because we are not a local player, and that is the reason why we did not realize big investments in factories or units. We are currently considering proposals that we got from Russian partners. They mainly concern beer and food industries, as well as packaging industry. We are leaders in that field in Russia and former SSSR for years and our partners ask us to form a joint venture with them. So far we have not been ready to develop our operations in that direction, but the time has come for us to implement some of the proposals. We intend to start production of means for industrial cleaning for a big Belgian company, with which we currently talk about whether to build a unit in Serbia and then export products to Russia or to build a unit in Russia. The investment would amount to about 2m EUR because that simple technology does not require big investments. Also, we are negotiating with a Turkish company on production of labels, that is, printed material for beer industry, and joint appearance in Russian market. That investment is worth 3 to 5m EUR.

eKapija: You announced formation of a joint venture with Ukrainian partners in 2009. Have you already fulfilled some of your plans?

Ukraine is the country that the crisis hit the most. The currency devaluation in the country amounted to 50% and the situation was additionally aggravated by political changes and elections, so that we decided to postpone all actions for some better time. I doubt that anything will be done this year, but maybe the next year will be the right one for fulfillment of our plans, which remained the same.

T.S.