The Compagnie Fruitière has had an increase in minority capital, subscribed to by Unigrains and the Credit Agricole, alongside the Société Générale Capital Partenaires as co-investors.
The Compagnie Fruitière was created in 1939 and is largely owned by the founding family. Based in Marseille, they have a turnover of over €700 million and 18,000 employees. The group handles the entire fruit chain, from production to distribution, covering transport, importation and ripening :
- they produce in Africa with over 9,000 ha of plantations : Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal.
- they operate logistics terminals in Africa and Europe and have a fleet of 8 specialised vessels, giving them a leading position in the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific).
- they distribute fruit in Europe and ripen bananas in France, the UK, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
The group is the leading banana and pineapple producer in the ACP zone with total fruit and vegetable production reaching 450,000 tons. They are one of the leaders in fruit and vegetable distribution in Europe (bananas, pineapples, mangos, avocados, lychees, citrus, potatoes etc.).
The Compagnie Fruitière is strongly engaged in their CSR approach; they construct and maintain hospitals, schools, day care and employee housing on their plantations in Africa.
“Unigrains is pleased to support La Compagnie Fruitière in their international investment programme” says Didier Bosc and Sébastian Haselint, respectively Director of Investments and Development and Director of Investments at Unigrains.
“We were taken by their resilient business model based on total control of the fruit chain with a strong production presence”, say Arnaud Pradier and Manuel Leal, respectively Associate Director and Director of Participations at IDIA.
Thanks to this fundraising, the Compagnie Fruitier, having withdrawn their capital from American Dole Food Company in May 2014, has the means to carry out and finance sustainable and ambitious growth.