The Chinese group WH, through its subsidiary Smithfield, has taken control of Argal, a historic company in the meat sector founded in 1914 in Pamplona and which this year expects to have a turnover of 440 million euros.
The price of the operation is confidential. According to a statement, the multinational has taken 50.1% of the capital from the current shareholders, among which the directors Antoni Escribá and Josep Maria Orteu stand out, who will maintain the rest of the capital as well as their management positions of president and CEO. respectively. Escribá and Orteu entered the capital of the group in 2001, when they acquired ownership of the business (along with other minority shareholders) from the multinational Sara Lee, from the United States. According to the Commercial Registry, Escribá controlled 53% of the property through the Manusian Family company and Orteu had 35% through the Guembex company.
"This alliance reinforces the growth capacity of the Argal Group, both quantitatively and qualitatively, promoting its internationalization, technological evolution, sustainability and general competitiveness," says Escribá, in the statement, who declines to make statements about the operation.
The company has production plants in Lleida, Navarra, Extremadura and Aragón. Among its product portfolio, a wide range of sausages and prepared dishes stands out. Despite being born in Pamplona, the company has strong roots in Catalonia. Specifically in the Lleida municipality of Miralcamp, which for years has been its headquarters until in 2017 when the property decided to move its headquarters to Zaragoza. The workforce amounts to 677 workers, according to the latest data available in the Commercial Registry, relating to the 2021 financial year.
As for Smithfield Foods, it is an American group with a historical tradition in the sector. It employs nearly 60,000 people distributed in seven countries around the world. The owner of the brand is the Chinese group WH, based in Hong Kong, which in turn is also a large group in the pork sector in the world. According to a WH statement, it operates through companies such as Shuanghui Investment, the largest animal protein company in Asia, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork company in the US and Smithfield Europe, a company through which the purchase of Argal.
