Italy: New merger in the fruit and vegetable sector

Agrintesa is an Italian leader in fruit and vegetables production. Its member farms supply 440,000 tons of fresh products and the company has a turnover of up to €250 million. Its trading company Alegra is of national and international importance with 560,000 tons of fruit and vegetables, 5% of which are organic with the GustaBio brand. Apo Conerpo is a leader at European level, with a network of 8,700 farms in 45 cooperatives in all the most suitable regions of Italy for fruits and vegetables. More than 850,000 tons of produce are marketed each year. The company runs 92 processing facilities and has some co-operations with organic companies like Alce Nero & Mielizia. The companies have now announced their entry in Brio SpA, the Italian leader for the organic fruit and vegetables category.

The new members will join Coop La Primavera of Verona, so far the sole shareholder of reference in the company. "With this transaction", Raffaele Drei, president of Agrintesa, explains "our cooperative enters Brio with a share of 39%, the association Apo Conerpo with 5% and Alegra with 7%. The remaining 49% stay in the hands of the cooperative La Primavera - one of the pioneers of the organic movement in Italy, founder of the Brio company in 1993 with other minor partners. After the reorganization of the units, a capital increase of €2.5m will be provided in order to further strengthen the company".

Andrea Bertoldi, CEO of Brio, states that in those twenty years their company has experienced a steady growth and now sells nearly 20,000 tons of fruit and vegetables in addition to 1,650 tons of other foodstuffs, all strictly organic. Turnover in 2013 was close to €37m, an increase of 9% over the previous year, and was carried out for 40% abroad. If the other companies in the Brio Group are considered, (Brio France in Perpignan, Biologica 2006, Terre del sud, Brio Deutschland in Munich and the logistic company BDL) turnover increases to €50m (up 6% on 2012).

The new cooperation will start its operations on 1 June 2014 with the goal of doubling its global sales to €100 million within the next five years. More information is available from Brio.