Solina – a leading European producer of savoury ingredients for the food industry – has announced it has reached an agreement to complete the acquisition of Romania’s Supremia Grup from Levente Hugo Bara, the founder and owner of the firm. This agreement is subject to anti-trust authorities approval, which is expected in the coming months.

 

Headquartered in Alba Lulia in central Romania, Supremia is the country’s market leader for food ingredients and spices, and is active in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the Scandinavian market. Since founding the company in the year 2000, Mr Bara has grown the business to encompass more than 300 employees and sales of €52.1m in 2016. Following the acquisition, the current management team will stay with the company.

 

For French company Solina, the acquisition represents the latest step in its external growth strategy in the European food industry. Laurent Weber, CEO of Solina Group, said: “Supremia is a great company which has seen strong growth over the past 10 years. It is led by an entrepreneurial team, which has built an impressive portfolio of solutions and seasoning offers together with a state-of-the-art factory in Alba Lulia. The company has also developed a strategic spices supply chain, as well as a spice treatment operation. We are very positive about the team and we are eager to start working with our new Solina members.”

 

Mr Weber described the deal as a “major step” for Solina, particularly in Eastern Europe, and announced that Supremia would become Solina’s hub for the region. “We are committed to expanding across Europe through a build-up strategy in all major markets, and this acquisition perfectly fits our network of service centres across the continent and beyond,” he added. “Customers of both groups will benefit from what will be the largest R&D and production network in Europe.” 

 

The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction value. 

 

In total, Solina Group has 14 production facilities, multiple R&D centres and local sales offices. The company has around 1,200 employees, direct presence in 17 countries and serves customers in more than 75 countries. The majority shareholder of Solin

a Group is Ardian, the independent private investment firm. 

 

www.solina-group.eu