Since December 1st, Italian cold tea Beltè brand has been officially controlled by Spumador spa (Refresco Italy), which acquired it from the San Pellegrino Group, which in turn is part of the Nestlè group. The announcement of the acquisition agreement was made last November.
Beltè is a cold tea brand, which offers a range of traditional teas, with lemon and peach infusions, green tea, black tea with red fruits and organic tea. The brand generates around 10 million in sales.
Sanpellegrino was legally assisted by Simmons & Simmons and financially by Vitale & Co. Spumador was instead assisted by the in-house legal team of the Refresco Group.
Refresco Italy (Refresco group), boasts a product portfolio that includes mineral water, carbonated beverages, tea, sports and isotonic drinks and fruit juices. Its customer portfolio includes major national and international retailers and large brand companies. The company has offices in Caslino al Piano (Como), Quarona Sesia (Vercelli), San Carlo Spinone (Bergamo), Sulmona (L’Aquila) and Recoaro Terme (Vicenza).
The Dutch group Refresco, at that time controlled by the British private equity 3i, had bought Spumador, a leading company in the production of carbonated drinks with commercial brand and mineral water, in 2011 from Trilantic Capital Partners (see the press release at the time) and then bought the Italian Recoaro mineral water producer in March 2017 for 6.3 million euros (see here the Refresco Annual Report 2017). Roberto Rossi, managing director of Refresco Italy, commented on the acquisition of Belté: “After Spumador in carbonated drinks and Recoaro in mineral water, this acquisition sanctions our vocation to contribute to preserving and developing the heritage of knowledge and tradition throughout Italian in the world of drinks “.
Refresco in April 2013 merged with the British company Gerber Emig (see here a previous article by BeBeez) and was then listed by 3i on Euronext in 2015 (see here a previous article by BeBeez) . The Pai Europe VII fund managed by Pai Partners, in consortium with Cubalibre Holding, acquired 97.4% of Refresco in 2018 and delisted it, see the press release here). The history of Refresco with private equity, however, backs even earlier and in fact dates to 2004, when 3i had financed the Refresco management buyout, based on an assessment of the group of 240 million euros. The fund then came out of the investment in 2006 selling Refresco to a consortium consisting of Kaupthing Bank, FL Group and Vifilfell Bottling Group for 463 million (see the press release here). Again 3i had invested in Refresco in 2010, buying a 20% stake for 21 million pounds in capital increase and with a commitment to subsequently invest another 26 million pounds (see here the 3i annual report 2010).
