Spanish agri-food business Grupo Fuertes has confirmed it has lodged a takeover approach for local poultry peer Uvesa.
The bid from Fuertes, which mainly produces poultry, seafood and cheese in the food segment, sits alongside interest from Ukraine’s MHP.
Like Uvesa, MHP is a major player in the poultry sector and submitted a binding offer for the Spanish business in December.
“Grupo Fuertes has made this purchase offer to Uvesa and it has been communicated to their shareholders,” a spokesperson for Fuertes confirmed to Just Food.
Set up in 1964, Uvesa is a farm-to-fork operator headquartered in Tudela, Navarra. It produces fresh and frozen chicken, as well as marinated products, sausages, meatballs and charcuterie. The company also rears pigs to serve the food industry with fresh pork.
Working out of four poultry processing plants in Tudela (Navarra), Málaga, Cuéllar (Segovia) and Rafelbunyol (Valencia), Uvesa supplies the retail and foodservice channels in Spain, and also exports.
According to unnamed sources of the local publication El Economista, Fuertes’ bid for Uvesa amounts to around €300m ($312.3m) and the offer has been submitted to the target company’s 1,500 shareholders.
MHP did not reveal the financial terms of its bid in December but said a minimum acceptance of 50.1% from shareholders would be required to get the deal over the line.
Fuertes operations include pig and cow rearing, poultry and cheese processing, along with the production of mineral waters and wines.
Its El Pozo division is engaged in meat and cured meats, while Procavi is the company’s poultry processing business.
Other subsidiaries include Fripozo for frozen fish, seafood, meat and vegetables; Palancares for cheeses, mainly of the goat’s cheese variety; Aquadeus in bottled mineral waters; and Bodegas Luzón for wine.
Headquartered in the Murcia region of Alhama de Murcia, Fuertes also has business interests in real estate and petrochemicals.
According to El Economista, Fuertes as a group generated a turnover in 2023 of €2.5bn.
