After postponing its IPO, Europastry continues its growth roadmap and strengthens its international presence. The family company has acquired the distributor De Groot Edelgebak, specialized in premium frozen bakery products for the horeca channel in the Netherlands. "We continue to advance and work together to achieve new successes," says Europastry's executive president, Jordi Gallés.
For an undisclosed amount, the operation allows the Catalan company, a leader in the frozen bread and dough sector, to expand its product offering, taking into account the wide selection of bread, pastries, and cakes distributed by De Groot Edelgebak. It will also help it strengthen its position in the horeca channel, one of its strategic objectives for the coming years, and achieve greater capillarity in a country where it was already present.
The company, based in Ede, has a portfolio of 2,000 clients and a staff of 40 employees. For 2024, the Dutch distributor expects to invoice 16.5 million euros.
The acquisition of De Groot Edelgebak also implies strengthening the factories Europastry had in the Netherlands, where it is present in the municipalities of Oldeenzal, Beuningen, and Steenbergen. The group has almost thirty plants.
Stock market debut, on hold
Founded in 1987 by Pere Gallés, the company based in Sant Cugat del Vallès is one of the five main players in the global frozen bakery market. Spain and Portugal generate 55% of revenues, and the rest comes from business in North America and Central Europe. In total, Europastry operates in 80 countries and has 30 commercial offices. Last year, it achieved record revenues of 1.350 billion euros, up 20%. For 2024, the group expects revenues to grow by 10%. In the first quarter of this year, Europastry recorded sales of 325 million euros.
Spain and Portugal generate 55% of Europastry's revenues, with a presence in 80 countriesIn addition, at the beginning of May, expandedits network of innovation and development centers with the inauguration of a new Cereal R&D center (Center for Research Europastry Advanced Lab) in Barberà del Vallès, with a team of 90 workers and an area of 2,500 square meters.After an investment of 6.5 million euros, the Barberà center is the second complex of these characteristics that it has launched in Barcelona, after the one it opened in Sant Joan Despí in 2016, and the sixth on a global scale.R&D is a central pillar of the group, an item that accounted for 107 million euros in 2023. Last year alone, it launched 480 new products to the market.
The IPO was supposed to serve to provide an exit for the MCH fund, which owns around 20% of the group's capital. The operation was estimated to place the value of the Catalan company at 2 billion euros, keeping the founders, the Gallés family, as reference shareholders. But, less than two weeks before the scheduled date for its debut on the stock market, the company decided to pause the process due to increasingly unfavorable market conditions and greater volatility, in a context of an electoral period in Europe.