13|10|2009

British group purchases La Bella Easo

British funds advised by Apax Partners have purchased La Bella Easo, an Industrial Bakery from the Aragón region formerly owned by the Barilla Group, through the Iberian Foods Company.

The purchase includes the Saragossa production plant with productive capacity for 35,000 tons a year. La Bella Easo has thereby joined the group of companies controlled by Iberian Foods in Spain, which includes the well-known trademark Panrico.

Net turnover of La Bella Easo in bakery products and industrially produced bread amounted to 46.1 million euros in 2008. Its main products include fairy cakes, sweet bread and the entire range of the ‘Doo Wap’ trademark, which will remain owned by Barilla and will be exclusively licensed out to Bella Easo in Spain.

The Italian multinational, Barilla, will continue to operate on the Spanish market with its Barilla (pasta and sauces) and Wasa (crunchy bread) trademarks.

La Bella Easo came into being in 1968 as a small Bakery in La Puebla de Alfindén (Saragossa). It began production on an industrial scale in 1972 and at the beginning of the 90s was integrated into French group Harry's, which merged with Barilla last year.

Apax Partners, which manages 20,000 million euros worth of investments all around the world, invests in technology and telecommunications, distribution and consumption, communications media, medical and financial services sectors.