Italy: the QuattroR fund ready to sell 49% of Casalasco

As part of a review of its investment portfolio, as reported by Corriere della Sera, QuattroR is evaluating the exit from Casalasco, the largest tomato processor in Italy with 820,000 tonnes processed in 2022. The group with roots in Cremona and activities between Piacenza, Parma and Mantua, with five factories, historic brands such as Pomì and De Rica, approximately 600 million euros in revenues and 800 associated agricultural companies, numbers that make Casalasco the first company of the sector in the national supply chain. 

 In the next few weeks QuattroR, which entered 2020 with a 49% stake in the Lombardy company, will decide how to plan its path. So far, according to the available information, the asset management company is currently evaluating the most mature companies to put on the market and Casalasco would enter into this framework. The first survey of the portfolio, accompanied by some market surveys, has reportedly already aroused the interest of other Italian groups in the sector. La Doria, the leading European producer of peeled tomatoes and tomato pulp in retail, with six factories, a story that began in Angri in Campania and continued throughout Italy, could be interested in the dossier. Under the banner of Investindustrial which owns 65% of it alongside the Ferraioli family (35% of the capital), La Doria has grown to a billion euros in turnover and plays an aggregator role on the market.

But the Mutti group, another national leader, could also look at the dossier. And the participation of large private equity funds interested in Casalasco, which is worth around a third of the market, is not excluded. When QuattroR invested the company had a turnover of 350 million euros, which has now reached 600 million euros with organic growth and acquisitions. It was a cooperative of farmers who today are important members of a S.p.A. and a supplier to names such as Barilla and Unilever. 

Sources: corriereortofrutticolo.it, corriere.it