Enrico-Glasbest will be taking over Bertolli brand of Italian food products from Unilever. Following the acquisition, the group’s turnover will amount to approximately €50 million (US$61.2 million) on an annual basis. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The acquisition concerns Bertolli’s European activities in pasta sauces, pesto and mayonnaise. To enable smooth integration, a transition period of six months has been agreed, during which Unilever will continue to handle sales and operations for Bertolli. 

This development follows Unilever’s offloading of its olive oil and margarine activities to Deoleo in 2008 and KKR in 2018, respectively. 

The Bertolli brand, which also has activities in the US, has been owned by the Japanese Mizkan Group since 2014. 

“Enrico will nourish the brand and has a lot of experience in Italian/Mediteranean products. The infrastructure is ready to scale-up,” Robin Heetkamp, general manager of Enrico-Glasbest, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“As a brand, Bertolli fits in seamlessly with the strategy and ambitions of Enrico-Glasbest. The company has grown strongly in recent years and is prepared for such a step forward.”

Facilitating the transition
Aleks Fiege and Jet van Koten, both closely involved with Bertolli in the past as managers at Unilever, have initiated this acquisition. 

In this they worked together with Enrico-Glasbest, which is a key trading company and producer responsible for the sale and distribution of Mediterranean foodstuffs in the Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg (Benelux) region.

“We see enormous potential to create more value with more attention and investments in quality, innovation and marketing,” comments Fiege.

No personnel or production locations will be taken over in the transaction. The production of the Bertolli products will continue to be overseen by existing producers. 

The acquisition is made possible financially by Victus Participations and Rabobank.