Bulgarian food producer Bella has acquired Hungarian food producer and supplier Marathon Foods in a deal valued at BGL12m ($6.8m).

The acquisition gives Bella Foods an active presence in the supply of food products to markets in Western Europe.

Founded in 1992, Marathon Foods has been supplying its products to multinational retail chains and has a portfolio of traditional Hungarian food.

Bella Bulgaria CEO Elsa Markova said: “We launched the year with a large-scale investment programme in all the three food divisions; processing, logistics and export.

“High-quality production attracts more and more consumers in Europe and we believe that expanding our manufacturing business in the central and western parts of the continent is the right business approach.”

The acquisition of Marathon Foods will enable Bella’s network of affiliates to enter McDonald’s, BurgerKing, Aldi, FamilyFrost, O’Cool, Tesco, Iceland, Spar and Auchan.

In February, Bella Bulgaria announced a large investment programme in the production, storage and export of food.

The company will make an investment of more than BGL15m ($8.55m) in the implementation of new automated lines and quality control systems, among others.

Bella Bulgaria offers a wide range of food products and develops food in accordance with European standards.

The company’s product portfolio includes pastry products, pasta bites, cheese bites, hot dog, grill products, gyros, shrubs, cinnamon rolls, Mexican rolls and spring rolls.

In February 2017, Bella expanded its portfolio of pastry, meat and oil products by entering the rice segment with the introduction of rice-based chips, cakes and snacks.