After months of negotiations, Grupo AN and Unica Group have agreed to merge to form a cooperative giant with a presence in eight regions, which will be a leading exporter of fruits and vegetables, as confirmed to Efeagro by sources from both companies.
Almeria's Unica Group will become integrated to Navarra's AN. The merge will result in the latter reaching a total turnover of 919 million Euro (684 million from AN and 235 million from Unica Group) and for it to have partnered growers, facilities and industrial plants in Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon, La Rioja, Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country.
The transaction will result in the consolidation of AN Group as the second largest cooperative in Spain in terms of turnover, only behind the Galician Coren and ahead of Anecoop, Dcoop, Covap, Cobadu, Agropal, ACOR or Actel.
Almeria and Tudela: the two headquarters
Following the merger, Unica Group will handle all the fruit and vegetable exports from Almeria, incorporating into its current range the products grown in the Ebro and Duero areas by AN, such as cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli or cabbage), apples and Conference pears.
Meanwhile, in Tudela, AN Group will handle the part of the business in which it specialises: the domestic marketing of fresh seasonal products, incorporating in turn the range and products of Unica Group.
"We want to improve our position in all markets, domestic and international, as well as all segments (fresh, preserves, processed and frozen) to better defend the produce of our partners and improve internal efficiency," they said.
Before the merger with Unica, the AN Group closed last season (from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014), with a turnover of 684 million Euro, 84 million Euro in profits and a net profit of 8.2 million Euro.
The AN Group currently has 145 partnered agricultural cooperatives in Navarra, Aragon, Castile-Leon, Castile-La Mancha, La Rioja and the Basque Country, totalling 30,861 growers.
Meanwhile, Unica Group, after six years since its creation, expects a total of 215 million Euro in turnover this campaign, 235 million if services and partnered companies are included.
Unica, which will sell 230 million kilos from 1,750 associated growers, who cultivate 2,000 hectares of greenhouses and 700 of open fields, has approximately 2,800 workers.
Cabasc, Casur, Cohorsan, Cota 120, El Grupo, Ferva and Parque Natural, based in the provinces of Granada, Almeria and Murcia, are the cooperatives currently forming part of Unica Group.
Both companies have announced that one of their goals is "to continue expanding so that other cooperatives sharing the philosophy of the project can join the various sections, since the most critical factor is still size."
Source: agroinformacion.com
