The Pomona group, leader in the distribution of products to the hospitality sector in France, completes a new deal in Spain with the objective of leading the sector consolidation in the Spanish market and become a player of reference.
The French company had completed the purchase of Sanamar Alimentación, a group based in Malaga specializing in the distribution of frozen seafood to restaurants and specialized food stores. Sanamar Alimentación, with a total of 105 workers, closed the 2022 financial year with a turnover of 35 million euros. The management team will continue to lead the company.
“Sanamar has had strong growth in recent years, but it still has the potential to grow further. Our objective is to support this growth, as is the case with Friolisa (Catalonia) and Novafrigo (Madrid), while we continue to look for opportunities in both Spain and Portugal”, explains Erik Plas, general director of Pomona Iberia. The manager points out that the hospitality distribution sector is very fragmented in Spain, with dozens of companies with a turnover of less than 20-30 million euros, unlike what happens in other countries, such as France and Germany, where a handful of companies dominate the market. “The concentration of the sector has started and we want to be an active player, although we are aware it will be a slow process”, he adds.
The purchase of Sanamar Alimentación raises the turnover of Pomona Iberia to 125 million euros, which already makes the group one of the five largest in its sector in Spain.
The French group landed in Spain in 2014, with the purchase of Cadaico, a restaurant supplier in the Barcelona area and three years later, it acquired Friolisa, another Catalan company. Also advised by NORGESTION, the group’s leap outside Barcelona area came in 2022, with the purchase of Novafrigo, a company based in Madrid and specialized in the distribution of food products for restaurants.
Now, Sanamar open Pomona to another key region of the country for restaurants such as Andalusia, in addition to its experience in a key and complicated activity such as frozen seafood. Pomona had a turnover of 4,600 million euros last year. The French group has 80 companies with some 11,500 employees in the three markets where it operates: France, Switzerland and Spain.
This is another joint effort by Mergers Alliance partners where Aurignac Finance, MA partner in France, introduced it historical client, Pomona, to NORGESTION who searched the market for the perfect targets and advised through the whole acquisition process.
