Innoliva, one of Europe’s largest olive oil producers, has been sold by Cibus Capital to another private-equity firm, Fiera Comox.

London-based Cibus bought Spain-based Innoliva in 2018. The sale to the Canadian private-equity house was struck for an undisclosed sum.

Seville-headquartered Innoliva, founded in 2006, is a major producer of traditional and extra virgin olive oil, with 8,000 hectares of olive groves across Spain and Portugal.

It claims to have pioneered “super high-density planting techniques” which have propelled the business forward.

Rob Appleby, founder and CIO of Cibus, said: “Innoliva was the first buyout executed by Cibus Fund I. We engaged an excellent management team, which transformed a humdrum olive oil producer into a business that has produced excellent financial returns while espousing world-class sustainability practices.

“We are grateful to our stakeholders for their ongoing commitment to our strategy and to the new owners.”

He added: “We are confident that Fiera Comox and their expert agriculture investment team will continue to propel Innoliva forward as a first-class olive oil producer.”

Listing Innoliva’s achievements under Cibus’ ownership, Appleby pointed to it doubling its area footprint, which was 4,000 hectares when it bought the business, and diversifying the product offering to include table olives and almonds.

Just Food has asked Innoliva for its response. In a statement posted by Cibus Capital on LinkedIn, Innoliva CEO Jorge Pena said: “We are thankful to Cibus for its instrumental role in growing Innoliva and transforming it into a leading extra-virgin olive oil producer in Iberia and one of the largest producers of premium organic olive oil globally. We are thrilled to welcome Fiera Comox as our partner to continue with our growth strategy in the region.”

Just Food has asked Fiera Comox for its comments on the deal, outside of Canadian business hours.