Pladis, which owns brands such as McVitie’s and Carr's, will merge its Eastern and Western Europe operations into one Europe and Emerging Markets division, effective 1 January 2025.
The division will also be responsible for the company's Nigerian and Sub-Saharan Africa businesses, as well as Australia and New Zealand, the company said in a statement.
Currently, Pladis operates two regional units: Türkiye, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TREECA), and the Western Europe and Emerging Markets (WEEM).
The Türkiye, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TREECA) unit will operate as the Türkiye and Central Asian Markets unit.
Pladis believes that the restructuring aligns with the geographic and economic synergies of the company's European markets that operate within the EU trading bloc.
Leadership Reshuffle
Mete Buyurgan, who leads Pladis’ TREECA Market Region, will assume a new leadership role in the second quarter of 2025, reporting directly to CEO Salman Amin.
Elsewhere, Özgür Kölükfakı will join the company as managing director designate for the Türkiye and Central Asia division and incoming CEO of Ülker, effective 9 September 2024.
Kölükfakı joins from Hayat Kimya – a global hygiene, tissue, and homecare company based in Türkiye.
He served as the general manager of the company, leading its Türkiye business and export operations.
Kölükfakı is an experienced professional and spent 23 years in senior roles at Unilever, including as vice president of the Foods and Refreshment unit.
He will assume leadership of the region in the second quarter of 2025 and work closely with Buyurgan in the interim to ensure a smooth transition and business continuity.
He will also join Pladis’ executive committee and Ülker’s board of directors.
Tim Brett, the current managing director of Pladis’ Western Europe and Emerging Markets (WEEM), will step in as the managing director of the new Europe and Emerging Markets division.
Pladis CEO, Salman Amin, commented, “I want to extend my deep gratitude to Mete for his eight successful years leading our TREECA region. I look forward to continuing to work with Mete as he brings his exceptional talents to new opportunities to drive growth in pladis.
“And I’m delighted that Özgür will be joining us to lead Türkiye and Central Asia. His deep, multinational leadership experience in large consumer goods businesses will be a significant boon to pladis. Finally, I’d like to thank Tim for his continued leadership. I know his experience will be hugely beneficial in his expanded role overseeing all of Europe and emerging markets.”
