Agras Petfoods acquires dry manufacturing company in Italy for the production and packaging of dry food for cats and dogs.
With this operation Agras consolidates its presence in the dry segment, now overseeing the entire value chain from production to market with its flagship brand Schesir.
Agras is expected to have a turnover in 2020 close to 100 million euros, with solid growth compared to 2019.
Agras Pet food – Italian company born and based in Genoa since 1986, operating in the pet food sector through the marketing in Italy and abroad of the brands Schesir and Stuzzy in the specialized channel and Adoc in grocery– last Otober 30th has acquired the entire production branch of Cerere Spa, a company based in Neive (CN) Piedmont Italy, specialized in the production and packaging of dry food (croquettes and kibbles) for pets.
The industrial integration project between Agras Pet Foods and Cerere represents a strategic move in Agras Petfoods ambition to become a key player in the dry segment with its flagship brand Schesir, leveraging superior product quality and palatability, fast innovation and manufacturing efficiency and sustainability.
More specifically, the operation has been carried out through the acquisition of 100% of Cerere Produzione Srl, a company established in 2020 following the spinoff of the production branch of Cerere S.p.A., owned by the Schiappapietra family, which has been managing it since 1977 and will continue to market products under its own brand through Cerere S.p.A.
The 2019 pro forma turnover of Cerere Produzione Srl was about € 10 million.
In the coming years Agras Pet Foods, thanks to additional investments aims at doubling the volumes of dry pet food, both under its own and third party brands.
“This operation – said CEO Pietro Molteni – represents a key milestone in our journey to accelerate our growth in the dry segment with a best in class production process and increasing investments on the equity of our flagship brand Schesir. We’re also committed to continue working with the partners that chosed Cerere for the production of their own retail brands”.
“We recently chosed the Cerere plant – said Simone Mezzanotte, Agras General Manager – to produce our latest innovation in dry Schesir Natural Selection with its unique product formula and superior palatability, that together with our wet range provides a complete offer for the vast majority of consumer that combines wet and dry for their pets”.
In this transaction, Agras Pet Foods was assisted by Corus Corporate Finance as financial advisor and Cristoffanini Bravo Bottero & Associati for the legal profiles. Financial due diligence was followed by Deloitte Financial Advisory.
Cerere was assisted by Banca Iccrea as financial advisor and Bird & Bird as legal advisor.
ABOUT AGRAS PETFOODS
Agras Pet Foods was founded in 1986 in Genoa, Italy, with the mission to bring high quality products to the pet food sector and is today a leader in Italy in the distribution of natural foods for dogs and cats, with a particular focus on the wet single-dose foods segment.
The company sells about 25 thousand tons per year of products under the Schesir, Stuzzy, both in Italy and abroad, distributing in over 40 countries to more than 3000 customers thanks to a workforce of about 60 employees. In the large-scale distribution in Italy it also sells products under Adoc brand.
In 2017, NXMH, a Brussels-based family-owned investment company, acquired 60% of Agras Pet Foods, with the aim of establishing a long-term strategic partnership and accelerating its development. The acquisition saw a renewed commitment of the previous partner Pietro Molteni, demonstrating his confidence in the collaboration and shared strategic path.
Agras expects to close the 2020 balance sheet with a turnover close to € 100 million (of which about 30% abroad), in solid growth compared to 2019.
