Hortifrut seeks to continue betting on the internationalization of its operations, for which it will propose to shareholders a profound reorganization of the corporate structurecreating a society in Ireland, which will remain on all the national and international subsidiaries of the firm linked to the Moller Group, VitalBerry Group (of the Elberg and Del Río families) and the Peruvian group Quevedo.
In this way, the shareholders’ meeting convened for May 19, 2022, will vote that Hortifrut SA transfer its assets to Hortifrut Limited, Irish company specially incorporated for this purpose and whose property is 100% of Hortifrut SA
“(Ireland) has a series of attributes that make it one of the most attractive countries to receive foreign investment,” said the CEO of Hortifrut.
In this way, the exporting company clarifies that the matrix will remain in Chile and the restructuring will not affect the stakeholders of the company, since both the assets and the cash flows will continue to be under the indirect ownership and control of Hortifrut SA
“With 40 years of existence, Hortifrut is a global company and needs to be involved in the markets in order to participate directly in new consumer trends and thus continue efficiently with our expansion in Europe and Asia, the regions where it is projected. our greatest growth in the future. This is a natural step for Hortifrut, which undoubtedly strengthens the company’s international consolidation plan”, explained Juan Ignacio Allende, CEO of Hortifrut.
The executive added that This operation will allow them to access deeper and more developed financial markets “with more competitive conditionswhich implies potential efficiencies and cost reduction”.
Why Ireland? Allende points out that this destination was chosen because “it has a series of attributes that make it one of the most attractive countries to receive foreign investment: not only is it an open economy that belongs to the European Union, but it also stands out for being a center that brings together the main technology firms in the world”.
In addition, the manager added that “in our case, the most important thing was that it is recognized worldwide as a hub strategic for innovation and the protection of intellectual property, which is in line with our strategy of strengthening the genetics business and our research and development area”.
internationalization
In recent years the world’s leading blueberry producer has been betting on expanding its business beyond the borders to the point that currently 98% of its sales occur outside of Chile.
Hortiftut currently has a presence in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, China and India.
The internationalization of the entity has allowed the firm’s income to increase 97% in the last five years and sales volumes to grow 121%, going from 51.5 million kilos to 113 million kilos between 2016 and 2021.
The latest milestone was marked in October of last year when it invested US$280 million in the acquisition of 100% of the Spanish company Atlantic Blue.
Currently, 95% of Hortifrut’s sales volumes are marketed outside of Latin America. The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia regions show the highest growth rates. In the case of EMEA, the compound annual growth reached 20% in the last 10 years and that of Asia reached 29%, with China standing out with a rise of 63% in that period.
