The Catalan company producing 'Royal' smoked salmon changes hands

Salted fish stalls are a classic in all Barcelona's municipal markets. A company, Copesco, is closely linked to the supply of cod to the city, as its origins date back to 1853. It was founded by José Daurella, a pioneering businessman in the import of cod from the cold waters of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. This business was the starting point for creating one of the most important business conglomerates in Catalonia, the Cobega group, which introduced Coca-Cola to the Spanish market.

José Daurella's success with cod led his descendants, led by Santiago Daurella, to diversify the family business into soda production, becoming in 1951 the first Coca-Cola licensee company in Spain. Today, the Daurella family, led by Sol Daurella, is the main shareholder of Coca-Cola European Partners, the largest bottler of the American brand, with a presence throughout Western Europe.

Headquartered in Esplugues de Llobregat, Cobega also controls Coca-Cola concessions in a dozen African countries and is the owner of 50% of Cacaolat and the entire network of Nespresso stores in the Spanish market. Another of its much lesser-known businesses is Daufood, the company that holds the master franchise for the Domino's Pizza chain in Portugal, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Recently, Daufood has expanded its presence in Eastern Europe by acquiring the Domino's master franchise in Greece.

Although Copesco is not part of Cobega, it has always been owned by the Daurella family, but not the entire family, only a part: Sol Daurella and one of her cousins, Carmen Daurella. In 1994, Copesco, a leader in cod, merged with Sefrisa, a smoked salmon producer founded in 1970. The best-known brand of the Copesco & Sefrisa group is Royal, present in all supermarket chains, where it is a leader in branded smoked salmon sales, with a market share of 9%. It should be noted that in this category, supermarket private labels have a very significant weight.

Copesco & Sefrisa also operates through the brand Summumm, aimed at the highest segment of the market and sold in gourmet stores. In total, the company invoiced 46 million euros in 2019 and obtained a profit of 1.45 million. Its production center is located in Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Barcelona), where between 150 and 200 people work, depending on the time of year, as it is a seasonal business.

This week will be marked in the company's history by a highly relevant event: the company has been sold to the Basque group Angulas Aguinaga, manufacturer of well-known products such as La Gula del Norte and Krissia surimi sticks. After more than a century and a half of history in the hands of the same family, Copesco & Sefrisa begins a new stage and becomes part of a business project that has an important growth plan stimulated by venture capital on the table. Angulas Aguinaga is controlled by PAI Partners, one of the most important investment funds in Europe.

With financial muscle from PAI Partners

PAI bought 50.1% of Angulas Aguinaga last November 2020 from another venture capital manager, Portobello Capital, which, together with the founding family, control the other 49.9% of the shareholding. PAI's objective is to make Aguinaga a leader in the food sector based on seafood products and prepared dishes, where it also operates with the Aguinamar brand. The acquisition of companies in the same sector that allow it to diversify ---a build up process, according to venture capital jargon--- is one of the central pillars of Angulas Aguinaga's strategic growth plan, which plans to double its turnover in the next five years, reaching 450 million in 2025. The purchase of Copesco & Sefrisa is not the first made by the company; it also grew last year with the incorporation of the Italian Riunione. The expansion plan foresees diversifying into other categories outside of fishmongering and accelerating internationalization, with a focus on Italy and France.

Angulas Aguinaga is five times larger than Copesco & Sefrisa, as it closed the 2019 financial year with a turnover of 220 million euros. There is a perfect complementarity between the two companies because the Basque group had not operated in the smoked salmon or desalted cod business until now. "We have just closed a beautiful corporate operation; we are very happy and excited because we have a very important growth project ahead of us that involves strengthening the brand, joining forces, and reaching further," explains Juan Ignacio Monfort, general manager of Copesco & Sefrisa, to The New Barcelona Post.

The executive, who has been working at the company for 21 years, will continue to hold the position in this new stage and is convinced that the transaction will be very beneficial for the Sant Esteve Sesrovires factory. "We have doubled sales in the last nine years and still have a lot of potential to grow and give a new boost to the plant," says Monfort, who highlights the "strong brand vocation and commitment to quality products" that both Copesco & Sefrisa and Aguinaga have.

For his part, the CEO of Angulas Aguinaga, Ignacio Muñoz Calvo, emphasizes that "this acquisition is a very important step" because it gives them "a leadership position in two key categories such as salmon and cod."