A bottle of Lanjarón water, an Alhambra 1925 beer, a Dhul flan or a carton of Puleva milk. Few products inspire more local pride ... than these brands, which fly the flag for Granada around the world. The people of Granada identify with them and continue to treat them as they would a member of the family, but they have long since ceased to be companies with purely local ownership. However, these are all brands that are now in the hands of large national or multinational groups.
Granada sold the Lanjarón brand in 1993, when it was taken over by Danone, followed by Oximesa and Dhul, also owned by multinationals, while notable later examples include Cervezas Alhambra, acquired in 2006 by Mahou and Puleva, the Spanish flagship brand of Lactalis, the world leader in the dairy sector. The French company bought the Granada-based firm in 2010 for 630 million euros following fierce competition with other companies in the sector.
The Granada style remains
If there is one thing that Alhambra and Puleva have in common it is that, despite initial fears that they might lose their Granada identity, their new owners have made investments worth millions to strengthen and modernise their production plants, one on the Carretera de Murcia and the other on the Camino de Purchil and have made every effort to forge closer ties with the local community.
The path they paved has been followed by many others and the inflow of foreign capital into the local business sector has accelerated, particularly in recent years. IDEAL has compiled fifteen notable cases of mergers and acquisitions from the last five years.
The Pilsa example
The model of a thriving local business, experiencing spectacular growth, which catches the eye of a giant in its own sector that acquires it to create synergies, is perfectly exemplified by Pilsa, the family-run business from Granada that became the national leader in the distribution of kitchen equipment and furniture for catering professionals.
Following a year of negotiations with the family that owned the business, in 2024 the French ECF Group acquired the local company with the aim of strengthening its expansion strategy in Spain and the Caribbean, where Pilsa already had a strong presence.
The current CEO of Pilsa, José Manuel Cassinello, who was also involved in the sale of Jalsolsa, where he was managing director, points out that being acquired by a stronger company allows for investment in equipment and talent, and enables the business to reach more customers. In Pilsa’s case, it is generating even greater wealth in the region, as the ECF Group is rolling out an ambitious international expansion plan while maintaining Granada, home to the factory that produces its hospitality equipment for the global market, as its headquarters.
“Buyers, sellers and companies alike have all come away satisfied – some because the company is growing, and others because their price expectations have been met,” summarises Cassinello. The figures speak for themselves: Pilsa was sold when it had a turnover of 43 million euros; today, its annual turnover stands at 71 million, and its roadmap sets out to reach 100 million thanks to its expansion plans.
Since they bought it, 75 professionals have joined the company and, interestingly, not a single French executive has been appointed in Granada. “When things are working well, buyers keep them that way and build on them,” says Pilsa’s managing director.
The acquisition of companies in financial difficulty
The opportunity presented by buying a company in crisis is proving to be another major channel for the inflow of external capital and for changes in ownership of local companies. In recent years, there have been high-profile cases of acquisitions of companies in insolvency proceedings, such as Nicopan, the company that marketed Arenas chicken and Amifar Laboratories.
“From the point of view of the administrators, the correct approach is not to wait passively for someone to get in touch, but to carry out a reasonably comprehensive and traceable search, encourage competition amongst interested parties and retain evidence of the process. This significantly strengthens the application to the court at a later stage,” argues Javier López y García de la Serrana, director of the law firm HispaColex.
His work as an insolvency administrator has led to successful outcomes with the sale of the production units of Amifar Laboratories and two of the companies belonging to the Arenas Group. The latest company to be saved is the Cosegur de Huéscar cooperative, specialising in Segureño lamb. Just a few days ago, the judge authorised its sale, and it will now embark on a new chapter under the leadership of the national market leader in its sector, the Murcia-based company Soluciones Cárnicas Levantinas.