Ardian acquires majority stake in Solina Group

The acquisition has led to a change of governance in Solina Group: the Management team is now headed by Laurent Weber, CEO, and Bertrand Vaz, CFO. Eric Terré, the founder of the Group and former CEO, is now Chairman of the Supervisory Board and will be in charge of the acquisition strategy.

Based in Brittany, France, Solina develops and produces functional, taste, visual and nutritional savory ingredient solutions. Organic growth, as well an external acquisition strategy, has increased the Group’s turnover from €75m to €315m (proforma 2015) in the past five years. In this period, the company has reached 1,000 employees and 15,000 customers.

Laurent Weber, CEO of Solina Group, said: “We are delighted to join forces with Ardian. It is key for our Group’s ambitious external growth strategy to be backed by such a shareholder who can provide sound financial resources and significant expertise in acquisition strategy.” 

Solina focuses on integrating all acquisitions so they offer a better service to its clients and suppliers, more opportunity to grow and more ideas to develop new products. The Group plans to continue to expand its service and product range for all food and nutrition industries, as well as for food service customers and traditional butchers throughout Europe. Growing in size enables Solina to focus on R&D investment for the benefit of its clients in all areas of the food industry. It is central to the Group’s offer to create solutions for tomorrow’s food for all customers – regardless of their size – offering them local services, proximity and flexibility.

Solina will continue to expand its operations in CIS, Central Europe, Middle East and Asia, with local dedicated culinary development teams, supported by strong Master R&D Centers in the Nordics, Benelux and France.

Eric Terré, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, added: “This partnership with Ardian confirms the quality of the strategic ingredients platform we have built since our inception in 1988. We’ll continue to focus on developing our international presence. I am very happy that our management team and passionate employees can continue to deliver excellent service for our customers.” 

Bruno Ladrière, Managing Director Mid Cap Buyout at Ardian, added: “We are impressed by Solina’s history and growth trajectory, as well as by the strength of the management team. Working in partnership with them, we will draw upon our international network and expertise in the food ingredients sector to continue to grow the company. We will be pursuing an ambitious organic growth strategy as well as targeting acquisitions in this fragmented market.”