Agri-food: why we invest in preserved vegetables
Preserved vegetables are staple food that reach the shelf through a handful of very demanding retail chains. Why this is one of our sectors and the role Acico plays in it.
Preserved pulses and vegetables are the kind of product nobody thinks twice about buying. They sell in any cycle, fit in any basket and reach the shelf through a handful of retail chains that demand volume, certification and reliability. That is why this is one of the sectors we invest in.
The value lies in the plant
In this business the brand on the tin matters less than the factory that fills it. Producing for retailers’ own brands, or as a co-packer for third parties, takes installed capacity, approved and up-to-date quality standards, and years of relationship with the buyer. None of these can be improvised, and together they make whoever has them a supplier that is hard to replace, even if their name is not on the label.
Acico, the starting point
Since 1970 Acico has been making preserved pulses and vegetables and ready meals in Cortes (Navarre), as a private-label producer and co-packer for Europe’s leading retail chains. It has one of the largest preserved-vegetable production capacities in Spain and IFS certification. It is one of the group’s two pillars and the anchor of the sector: its plant, its quality team and its relationships with retailers are the foundation on which everything else grows.
How the sector grows
The agri-food sector grows by building, not by starting from scratch: adding capacity, recipes or range to a platform that already serves European retail. We look for companies with their own production, fast-moving products —pulses, vegetables, ready meals— and retail customers they have worked with for years.
We invest permanent capital with no set exit date: we measure projects in decades. If you run a company in the sector and are thinking about the next step, we would like to hear about it.