Lisbon, Jan. 24, 2025 (Lusa) - ETSA, part of Portugal's Semapa group, has acquired 100% of the shares of Spain-based Barna Group from investment fund Corpfin Capital and a group of minority shareholders, the company said in a statement.
According to the company, the operation will allow both ETSA and the Barna Group to "expand their business areas in full harmony with the principles of sustainability and the circular economy."
According to ETSA, the Barna Group is based in Mundaka, in the Basque Country, and is "a benchmark in its segment in Spain" - undertaking "its activity in the area of the circular economy in the food sector [and] producing proteins and oils from the collection and processing of marine products destined mainly for the animal feed sector."
According to ETSA, this transaction "reinforces the Barna Group's growth prospects, by bringing it into a group with strong investment capacity and prospects for entering new market segments.
"This is a very important step in the growth of the ETSA Group and we are very motivated to work together with the Barna team and explore the many opportunities that the integrated management of both groups will create," the statement adds.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.
The Barna Group currently has "more than 120 employees and two factories, one in Mundaka, in the Basque Country, and the other near Tarifa, in Andalusia, from which more than 50,000 tonnes of fish by-products are processed every year," according to the statement.
The Barna Group's origins lie in the production of traditional fishmeal and fish oil, but it has expanded "its commercial offer with the production and commercialisation of protein hydrolysates of marine origin, products with much greater nutritional value," the release says, adding that this "is fully in line with the strategy also followed by the ETSA Group of increasingly seeking to increase the value added to the ingredients it produces and commercialises."
ETSA operates in the food recycling sector and "has been investing in differentiating and sustainable products, such as petfood ingredients, fertilisers and biofuels," the statement recalls, describing the acquisition as "another step in the expansion and diversification of its business areas" that allows the company to "approach new markets both geographically and in terms of the origin of the raw material or the destination of the final product."
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