LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 19, 2026--
Valeo Foods Group, one of Europe’s leading producers of sweets, treats and snacks, today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Prestige-96 AD (“Prestige”), a market-leading Bulgarian manufacturer of sweet baked goods.
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Founded in 1996, Prestige is one of Bulgaria’s most established and trusted producers of biscuits, wafers and sweet snack products. Its portfolio features some of the country’s most recognisable local brands including - Naya (Ная), Hyper (Хайпър), Mirage (Мираж) and Roden Kray (Роден Край). Prestige employs approximately 450 people across its operations.
The acquisition marks a significant milestone in Valeo Foods Group’s long-term growth strategy, focused on acquiring market-leading, iconic local brands as part of its continued European expansion. As Valeo Foods Group’s eighth acquisition since 2022, Prestige reinforces the company’s ambition to strengthen its position as Europe’s leading sweet treats champion.
Integrating Prestige into the Group is expected to unlock significant strategic value. The combined business will accelerate growth in Bulgaria by enhancing cross-selling opportunities and capitalising on Prestige’s strong retailer relationships. The acquisition also creates new pathways to expand into adjacent snacking categories and broadens Valeo Food Group’s international footprint by leveraging the export strengths of both organisations to grow in existing and new markets.
In addition, Prestige brings a modern, well‑invested production and warehousing facility, enhancing the Group’s capacity, operational flexibility and overall efficiency.
Prestige’s experienced local management team shares Valeo Foods’ commitment to quality, operational excellence and long‑term business resilience. Their expertise and strong cultural alignment will play a key role in advancing the Group’s ambition to become Europe’s undisputed sweet treats champion.
Ronald Kers, CEO of Valeo Foods Group, commented: "Prestige is an exceptional business with outstanding brands, a strong market position, and a highly capable team. By combining Prestige’s category expertise with the scale of the Valeo Foods network, we see significant opportunities to accelerate growth, expand into new markets, and bring even more loved products to consumers across Europe. This acquisition is a clear investment in long‑term, sustainable growth, adding capabilities that naturally enhance our core business. We look forward to welcoming the Prestige team as we grow together.”
Darina Stoyanova, CEO of Prestige 96, said:
“Prestige has grown into one of Bulgaria’s leading sweet snacking companies thanks to the dedication of our people and the trust of our consumers. Joining Valeo Foods gives us an even stronger platform to build on that success. By combining Prestige’s much‑loved brands with Valeo Foods’ international scale and capabilities, we see tremendous potential to grow our business, reach new markets and continue delivering the products consumers love.”
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals in Bulgaria. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed.
About Valeo Foods Group
Valeo Foods Group is a leading international food business, specialising in producing high-quality sweets, snacks, and treats. Our diverse portfolio includes over 80 brands including market-leaders such as Balconi cakes, Barratt sweets, Pedro confectionery, Horalky, Lina and Mila wafers, Rowse Honey, Bernard maple syrup, and Kettle Chips. With revenues close to €2 billion, the Group employs over 5,500 people across 30 manufacturing facilities and offices in the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, the Central and Eastern Europe and North America. Valeo Foods Group is owned by leading global investment firm Bain Capital.
About Prestige 96
Prestige is one of Bulgaria’s most recognisable FMCG companies and a market leader in its core categories - biscuits, wafers, and mini cakes in Bulgaria. Renowned for its commitment to quality and superior taste, Prestige has successfully expanded its footprint, with high-quality products now available in over 30 countries worldwide. An owner of trusted brands with exceptional loyalty like Naya (Ная), Mirage (Мираж), Trayana (Траяна), Roden Kray (Роден Край), Hyper (Хипер), Spoko (Споко), Prestige Wellness, the company has built a well-diversified sweet baked goods portfolio that continues to drive growth and innovation. Prestige employs approximately 450 people across its operations.
Prestige-96 sandwich biscuits.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran intensified its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors' energy infrastructure Thursday, setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and a Kuwaiti oil refinery ablaze as it hit back following an Israeli attack on its main natural gas field, a major escalation in the Mideast war that has sent global fuel prices soaring.
A ship burned off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off of Qatar, underscoring the ever-present danger facing vessels due to Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said firefighters put out a blaze at a major LNG facility after it was hit by Iranian missile attacks. Production had already been halted there after earlier attacks but it said the latest wave of missiles caused “sizeable fires and extensive further damage.”
Damage to the facility could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the market even after the Iran war ends.
A drone attack on Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire but caused no injuries, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. The refinery is one of the biggest in the Middle East, with a petroleum production capacity of 730,000 barrels per day.
Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas facility and Bab field, calling Iranian overnight attacks on the sites a “dangerous escalation.”
Missile alert sirens sounded in multiple other areas around the Gulf, and Israel warned of incoming Iranian fire.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all denounced the Iranian attacks, with Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat saying assaults on the kingdom meant “what little trust there was before has completely been shattered.”
In morning trading, Brent crude oil, the international standard, was above $110 a barrel, up more than 50% since Israel and the United States started the war Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran.
The wave of Iranian attacks came after Israel hit South Pars, the world's largest gas field located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly by Iran and Qatar.
With some 80% of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the country's electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.
Hitting the gas field is a “clear expansion of the conflict,” the New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note.
“Israel’s target selection in this war has heavily focused on the institutions, leaders and infrastructure ..." the think tank said. "It now seeks to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions for civilians intolerable.”
Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences" that "could engulf the entire world.”
In Washington, President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.
“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said on social media.
Qatar Energy said on X that a missile hit on its massive Ras Laffan LNG facility caused the blaze early Thursday.
A ship was also hit off the country's coast, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. It was not clear whether it was deliberately targeted of was struck by falling debris as Qatar fired off missile interceptors at incoming Iranian barrages.
Saudi Arabia also reported downing Iranian drones targeting its natural gas facilities overnight, and authorities in Abu Dhabi shut down the Habshan gas facility and Bab field after interceptions over the sites.
Another ship was set ablaze early Thursday off the UAE coast. It was also unclear whether it was targeted or hit with debris, the UKMTO said. It said the vessel was just off the coast of Khor Fakkan, near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is normally shipped.
More than 20 vessels have been attacked during the Iran war so far as Tehran has kept a tight grip on shipping traffic through the waterway, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the U.S. or its allies, and while some vessels have sailed through, it has only been a trickle.
Iran announced the execution of three men detained in January’s nationwide protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported.
The men were accused of stabbing two police officers to death in Qom, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, during the protests.
Iran put down the demonstrations with intense violence that killed thousands of people and saw tens of thousands others detained, and activists have warned that authorities might carry out mass executions of those detained.
Iran long has been accused by rights campaigners of extracting coerced confessions from detainees and not allowing them to fully defend themselves in court.
More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says 968 people have been killed.
In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire, including a Thai agricultural worker who died overnight after getting hit with shrapnel. Three people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Tzukim, Israel, Julie Watson in San Diego and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
FILE - Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib attends the inauguration ceremony of the 6th term of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran, Iran, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran's National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
Smoke and flame rise from a residential building following an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli authorities hang Israeli and U.S. flags at the site struck by an Iranian missile that killed two people, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
