The buyout of one of Greece’s major chocolate and confectionery manufacturers, ION, was approved by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) on Tuesday.
ION is being bought by Bespoke SGA Holdings, which is controlled by Cypriot private limited liability company SAG Invest & Holdings Limited.
The manufacturer has been synonymous with chocolate for more than 85 years in Greece. There are generations and generations of people who have linked its name to their most pleasurable moments.
With three ultramodern production plants in Greece, 950 employees, and a turnover of more than 110 million euros on an annual basis, ION is among the sixty largest industrial companies in Greece.
ION best known for its almond milk chocolate variety
Over the years, ION introduced other confectionery products, such as croissants and spreadable chocolate. However, it is best known for its almond milk chocolate variety which was introduced in 1947.
Although the first chocolate recipe was manufactured in 1927, the company was formally incorporated in 1930. The main factory is located in Neo Faliro, Pireaus.
In 1956, ION opened its first store in Athens, and its reputation spread by word of mouth. In 1976, it introduced the much-cherished green Noisetta.
A year later, it combined chocolate and wafer and created its groundbreaking, one-of-a-kind product: Chokofreta, the favorite sweet snack of all Greeks young and old.
In 1998, ION decided to expand its business activities abroad and become a Greek chocolate manufacturer with international status. Mabel joined the ION family a year later with its holiday delicacies for both Christmas and Easter seasons.
Through its collaboration with KRI-KRI, the Greek dairy industrial company, it produced its first ice cream in 2006.
In 2015, the chocolate manufacturer went “green” by using Stevia, the natural sweetener, in its chocolate products to create the line of Stevia products while maintaining ION’s famous taste only, this time, without any sugar.
Over the decades, ION has been associated with memorable advertising campaigns, as can be seen in the vintage and more recent commercials below.
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