San Miguel agrees with Citri&Co to transfer its fresh fruit business in South Africa and Perú to strategically focus on the lemon industrial business
- San Miguel will focus its’s strategy towards the “Natural Ingredients” Business Unit, consolidating its position as leader in the Industrial Lemon Business, by executing growth investments in Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa, to serve its strategic customers.
- San Miguel will continue producing fresh fruit in Argentina and Uruguay.
- Citri&Co will integrate San Miguel’s Peruvian and South African operations in the group and will exclusively commercialize San Miguel’s fresh fruit production from Argentina and Uruguay.
- Peru and South Africa will continue operating locally as usual, maintaining its managing team and colleagues, and fostering its current relationship with local growers
Buenos Aires – Madrid, June 2022.- Fresh Fruit leaders San Miguel (Argentina) and Citri&Co (Spain) agree the transfer to Citri&Co of San Miguel’s operations in Peru and South Africa, alongside with the exclusive international commercialization of its fresh fruit from Argentina and Uruguay.
San Miguel operations in Peru makes it one of the main producers and exporters of citrus, avocados and seedless grapes in the country, while being one of the leading citrus players in South Africa.
Citri&Co, a leading European vertically integrated player sponsored by Miura Partners, strengthens its foothold in the Southern Hemisphere, enabling the company to continue growing internationally in destination markets such as US, Middle East and Asia.
Additionally, Citri&Co makes a sound step to achieve its position as 12-month supplier of high-quality citrus while broadening its fruit portfolio with high value-added categories such as avocados and seedless grapes.
San Miguel will focus on developing strategic projects based on natural ingredients in Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa in order to reaffirm its position as the leading global lemon processor. At the same time, the company will continue its fresh citrus exports from Argentina and Uruguay. This transaction is part of a strategy to optimize San Miguel’s current capital structure and provide the financial viability that needs to fulfill its long-term strategy, which is mainly focused on achieving a more agile and accelerated growth.
Both South Africa and Peru will continue operating locally as usual, maintaining its managing team and colleagues, and fostering its current relationship with local growers.
The closing of the deal would be subject to the usual conditions for this type of transactions and is expected to happen in the coming weeks.
“We are very excited to start this new chapter in San Miguel successful history by focusing our strategy on the development and growth of the Natural Ingredients business through new investment projects to continue supplying our customers around the world.” explained Pablo Plá, San Miguel CEO, about the agreement.
According to Carlos Blanc, CEO at Citri&Co: “We are very pleased with the agreement reached with San Miguel, as we make a sound step to become a 12-month fresh fruit supplier and broaden our portfolio with high value—added categories such as avocados and seedless grapes. We are exceptionally thankful to San Miguel’s good work, and we receive its legacy with upmost respect while we bid a warm welcome to South Africa and Peru team to Citri&Co’s family.”
Boilerplate
About SAMI: San Miguel is a leading company in the production and distribution of fresh fruits and natural ingredients derived from citrus, specially lemons, a segment in which accounts for the largest volumes worldwide.
About C&C: Citri&Co is the leading vertically integrated fresh fruit group in Europe, offering citrus, melon/watermelon and stone fruit grown in fields across Spain and Brazil. The company commercializes >700k Tn of fresh fruit annually, across >30 countries and serving >200 clients under long-term partnership models.
About Miura Partners: Miura Partners is a leading middle-market private equity firm in Spain based in Barcelona with more than €1bn of Assets under Management. The firm is specialized in investing in mid-size family-owned & entrepreneurial businesses, providing attractive growth and innovation plans, and with a clear focus on sustainability. Since 2008 Miura Partners has invested in more than 50 companies, with transactions in excess of €2bn value.
