Italian agro-food group Granarolo has acquired a majority stake in Allfood, a Brazilian importer and distributor of European products.
Granarolo has acquired a 60% stake of Allfood, whose product offering is almost 50% Italian, including cheeses and cold cuts of meat. The company operates a 2,000-square-metre logistics centre and a factory with three slicing and packing production lines, two for cold cuts and one for cheeses.
It is the Bologna-based company’s second investment in Brazil in two years, after it acquired a 60% stake in Yema, which produces and sells a wide range of cheese products, at the end of 2015.
Granarolo president Gianpiero Calzolari said: “Brazil represents a strategic market due to the presence of a large Italian community – about 25 million people – who are naturally interested in Italian products. The dairy sector alone is worth €23 billion. It is a country with significant potential: in a single year, Yema recorded an increase in turnover of 25%.
“The purchase of Allfood’s business integrates perfectly with the activities carried out by Yema. The former, in fact, distributes mainly to mass retail, while Yema sells to the foodservice channel.”
The operation, through synergies between Allfood and Yema, will allow Granarolo to become a leading company in both the production and import of Italian and European food products in Brazil, capable of covering all distribution channels and creating an economy of scale.
Allfood CEO Luciano Almendary added: “Joining the Granarolo Group besides meaning a great leap for the Italian company in the Brazilian market, also strengthens Allfood’s strategy of consolidating its leadership in the import of European gastronomic products in Brazil.
“Access to new Italian product lines will expand our portfolio and our offer to consumers. It also deepens our ability to serve our Brazilian partners in all states and segments, both retail, normal trade and horeca.”
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