SPAIN – PAI Partners has acquired a majority stake in Spain-based seafood company Angulas Aguinaga, which operates well-known seafood brands in Europe, including La Gula del Norte, Krissia, and Aguinamar.

Portobello Capital, which purchased a controlling stake of Angula Aguinaga in 2006, will retain a minority stake in Angulas Aguinaga, along with the company’s founding family.

Following the sale, PAI will control a 50.1 majority stake while Portobello Capital and the founding family will jointly hold a 49.9 percent stake in Angula Aguinaga after the transaction closes.

Angulas Aguinaga CEO Ignacio Muñoz said his company’s employees are “very excited about the future that lies ahead” with PAI Partners.

“The partnership with PAI MMF will help us activate a new phase in our development, and we look forward to benefitting from PAI’s extensive experience in the food sector, as well as its international platform.”

Ignacio Muñoz – Angulas Aguinaga CEO

Angulas Aguinaga, which recorded EUR 220 million (USD 260 million) in sales in 2019, focuses on the refrigerated fish and seafood convenience and ready-meals markets.

Through its La Gula del Norte brand, it helped to popularize surimi-based products in the 1990s, and did the same with crab sticks sold through its Krissia brand in the 2000s.

Over the past decade, its has also had success with its Aguinamar brand, which markets value-added shrimp, mussels, octopus, salmon, and other seafood products.

In its five-year strategic plan released in 2020, Angulas Aguinaga set a goal of reaching EUR 450 million (US$ 531 million) in sales by 2025, using a strategy of innovation and expansion into new markets.

Last May, Angulas Aguinaga launched its Professional brand for foodservice, with the goal of increasing that part of its business from 12 percent of company sales to 20 percent by the end of 2020.

In January, it purchased a majority stake of Riunione Industrie Alimentari, a marketer of smoked salmon, swordfish, tuna, and bottarga in Italy.

In a press release, PAI Partners, which purchased Angula Aguinaga through its mid-market fund, said it hoped to accelerate the company’s growth through additional investment and resource-sharing amongst the other brands it owns.

PAI Partners has EUR 13.9 billion (USD 16.4 billion) under management and a focus on France, Spain, Italy, and Germany and is a minority owner of French value-added seafood firm Labeyrie.

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