MAT Holding grows 12% and groups its international businesses under the Aquestia brand

MAT Holding is a Catalan family group positioned in two businesses that are key to the future of the Planet: achieving a more sustainable agricultural model and making increasingly efficient use of water. With headquarters in Parets del Vallès and a strong presence in Israel, a benchmark country in water management, the Matosas family company has managed to accelerate its growth this last year and already obtains 65% of its income from the international market.

Thus, in 2021, MAT Holding reached a sales volume of 333 million euros, which represents an increase of 12.4% compared to the previous year. This double-digit increase has been achieved despite the uncertainty generated by the pandemic and the increase in raw materials and transport costs. This is the second consecutive year with double-digit growth of 12%.

"The good results of 2021 support us in facing challenges such as the transformation of the agricultural sector, the digitalization of crop and water management, and the improvement of service to our clients, leveraging the group's own competitive advantages," explains the CEO of MAT Holding, Pau Relat, who is also president of Fira de Barcelona. According to Relat, the group's competitive advantages are its innovative vocation, its proximity to the market, its willingness to internationalize, its financial prudence, and its commitment to talent.

With more than 85 years of history, MAT Holding claims to be the global leader in the manufacture and commercialization of copper salts for agriculture and one of the benchmarks in water conduction and control systems for the agricultural and industrial sectors. In addition, it is one of the leaders in the distribution of irrigation products in Spain and Portugal. It markets its products in a hundred countries, has nearly 1,100 employees, and six factories: three in Spain, one in Israel, and one in the United States.

Thanks to various acquisitions made in the last ten years, MAT has configured a business group with two main pillars. On one hand, its companies in Spain: IQV (phytosanitary products), Regaber (drip irrigation), Hidroglobal (water treatment and conduction), and SFT (filtration systems). On the other, Aquestia, a new brand recently created that groups its international business and is based in Israel.

Under the umbrella of Aquestia, MAT Holding has grouped the Israeli companies ARI Flow Solutions and Dorot, and the American OVC Control Valves, acquired in 2020, 2014, and 2018, respectively. The purchase of ARI, a company specializing in valves, exceeded 90 million euros and definitively allowed the Catalan group to position itself as a prominent player in the important Israeli market for efficient water management.

Along with Israel, the priority foreign market for MAT Holding is the United States, where it already invoices 25 million dollars. Another future country where the company wants to focus its growth is India, due to its great potential in the water sector. According to Relat, although the Spanish market now represents only 35% of the total turnover, it remains a priority market, as the agricultural sector must undergo a profound transformation in the coming years. "We are committed to Spain as one of the group's growth vectors, using our leadership in the agricultural sector on the Iberian Peninsula. We are totally focused on providing solutions for its modernization and digitalization with the aim of achieving more sustainable agriculture, not only in the economic sphere, but also environmental and social," highlights the CEO.

Of the 333 million euros invoiced in this last year, 197.5 million have been generated by the four companies that make up the water division: Regaber, Aquestia, STF, and Hidroglobal. This unit recorded an 8% growth, with an 18% advance in international markets. In parallel, the phytosanitary or crop protection division, represented by the company IQV, managed to close the year with sales of 135.8 million, up 19%.

"MAT Holding is already working on new businesses based on the digitalization and servitization of agriculture and water management, as well as on sustainable, profitable, and efficient solutions, maximizing synergies between all group companies to better respond to market needs, in line with its purpose of caring for agriculture and water," explains Relat.

In this regard, the Catalan company has approved a new strategic plan for the next three years that requires positioning itself as a benchmark in innovation and digitalization for the agricultural sector and also plans to accelerate its growth in the United States and India, in addition to continuing to grow in Spain and Israel. This plan contemplates continuing to carry out acquisition operations of companies that are complementary to the group's current businesses.