Appetite is growing for Panzani pasta and sauces, which Spanish owner Ebro Foods is ready to part ways with.
While Lustucru would be in line to bite into this major player in France (nearly 40% of the pasta market), the Cofigeo group (William Saurin, Garbit, Raynal and Roquelaure, Zapetti) is preparing its response.
According to our information, he is working on an offer that would differentiate him from his compatriot, to thwart what would lead to the creation of a French heavyweight in the sector.
He also wants to pose as an alternative to the probable appetites of foreign players, especially Italian
"who have already eaten more than 15% of the market",
according to a good connoisseur.
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Known for having bought the ready meals branch of the Financière Turenne Lafayette group in 2017, Cofigeo already has the license for Panzani ready meals (ravioli, lasagna, etc.) in its portfolio.
To weigh in against a Lustucru apparently hungry, Cofigeo seeks to ally.
It is in discussion with partners, more upstream in agriculture, in a sector-based approach.
Main purchaser of durum wheat in France, Panzani represents more than 60% of purchases from grain producers, who take a dim view of the possible arrival of a foreign fund or industrialist.
To convince Ebro, which expects between 550 and 600 million euros from this sale, Cofigeo will not have the means to play the higher bid.
Even if it has
"solid financial partners",
according to the same source, the industrialist wants to remain cautious.
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Sales of dry pasta certainly exploded in 2020 with confinements and teleworking (+ 200% some weeks).
But the market had been fairly stable until then, with growth taking place in the fresh pasta department (ravioli, ravioli, tagliatelle, etc.).
In addition to the expected slowdown in growth with the end of the health crisis, the farfalle, spaghetti and other coquillettes section remains at the heart of price battles between brands, for a product present in all the cupboards of the French.
