By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Continuing its effort to localize production in growing markets around the world, Procter & Gamble Co. said Friday that it would buy a plant in Ukraine.

P&G will spend $15 million during the next five years to upgrade the plant, according to a statement from the Ukrainian government's anti-monopoly unit reported by Reuters. The plant now is owned by Olvia Beta, a private consumer-goods company.

P&G confirmed it had received government approval to proceed with the purchase but did not predict when it would close.

The plant makes a variety of products, including those in P&G core categories such as laundry, beauty care and feminine care. P&G bought assets from Olvia Beta that include the plant.

P&G has been selling products in Ukraine since the early 1990s. The region is poised for expansion since it abuts several countries set to join an expanded European Union.

The plant signals a P&G trend of buying plants and increasing sales in developing markets around the world. Those markets generally provide double-digit sales growth and access to consumers with lower incomes who might not have purchased P&G products before.

Procter, which markets consumer goods there including Fairy dishwashing liquid and Ariel detergent, already has a healthy and growing business in Russia with sales of about $500 million a year and growing about 50 percent a year.

It already operates one plant in Ukraine.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com