Biolchim SpA acquires 70% share of Matécsa Kft

 The Italian group Biolchim SpA recently announced that the company has strengthened its position in the Hungarian market by acquiring a majority stake of 70% in the potting soil and substrate manufacturer Matécsa Kft.The Company operates a peat mine in Hungary from which it extracts the main source for its products. 

By this joint venture, Biolchim-Cifo Group will implement logistics, marketing and manufacturing synergies with its Hungarian subsidiary, distributing Biolchim Group’s products in the professional agriculture segment since 2009; furthermore there will be important cross-selling opportunities in the Home and Garden business between Cifo and Florimo brands in all the markets where the products are presently marketed. During the negotiation process, the management performed successfully the extraction of humic and fulvic acids from the peat, in order to test the feasibility of using that source as raw material for some products already manufactured by the Group.

About Biolchim-Cifo Group
 

Biolchim-Cifo Group, owned by the private equity fund Wise and the management team led by Mr. Leonardo Valenti, has a turnover of around EUR 85 million and operates in more than 70 countries through both strong commercial partnerships and its own sales and distribution subsidiaries or local offices. The transaction is another step in Biolchim’s project of growing by acquisitions and joint ventures, started in 2008 by the management team and accelerated in the last three years thanks to the acquisition of 100% of Cifo (2014), and ownership stakes in West Coast Marine Bio Processing (2015) and Matécsa Kft. (2016).

About Matécsa Kft

Matécsa Kft. started the production of universal potting soil from vermicompost, peat and forest soil in 1988, and nowadays is one of the largest potting soil producers in Hungary, employing 35 people with a turnover of around EUR 4 million and an EBITDA of EUR 1.4 million. Furthermore, the Company markets products for ground covering, different kind of fertilizers and plant care inputs. All the products are marketed under the well-known trademark “Florimo”. The Company’s factory is located in Kecel, about 125 km south of Budapest. The Company sells the products via a broad distribution network in Hungary as well as exports to neighboring countries like Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Romania and Bulgaria.