On Thursday of the previous week, the separation of Nutresa from the so-called Antioqueño Business Group (GEA) was sealed. That day the share exchange process established in the Framework Agreement signed on June 15, 2023 ended, which sought to end Sura’s participation in the organization’s food business, but which in turn, It allowed the Gilinski family and their Arab partners, IHC Capital, to take control of 99.4 percent of the food-producing company.
What follows now for Nutresa is an aggressive investment plan and greater international expansion, with a view to consolidating the company not only locally but also in the external markets where it is present, as Carlos Ignacio Gallego Palacio, its president, told EL TIEMPO.
“We look to the future with great hope and we know that it is normal for countries to have complicated cycles and moments to overcome these difficulties. But here we see the future with hope, we have projects, plans, we are investing in Colombia and other countries and what is coming is a very important development work on all fronts,” said the manager, who made it clear that it is important that the process of recovery of the economy “is accompanied by the basic conditions that are required to develop businesses, among these are security issues, especially for a company that reaches more than 1,000 municipalities in Colombia.”
These plans include million-dollar investments to strengthen business in Colombia on all fronts, greater expansion in the markets of Central America, the United States, Chile, Europe and others, as well as taking advantage of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that Colombia has just signed. with the Arab Emirates, among other planned plans.
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In Colombia alone, Grupo Nutresa is preparing to invest some 700,000 million pesos in 2024, resources that will be directed to strengthening their production processes and ensuring the functioning of their business (capex). This amount does not include the resources that will be allocated for possible purchases or acquisitions in Colombia or abroad, wherever they see opportunities that can be taken advantage of, said Gallego Palacio.
“This is just one of the examples of investments this year, but we have others on different fronts, That is why I mentioned that this is a company that has a very beautiful business model, based on three great pillars: people, more than 48,000 employees, 12,800 outside Colombia; 23 brands that sell around 50 million dollars, and the capabilities to deliver a value offer,” comments the president.
Carlos Ignacio Gallego Palacio, president of Grupo Nutresa
Photo:Nestor Gomez
“More than a challenge, it is a great opportunity that the country has and here the issues of nearshoring destined for developed markets are a giant opportunity,” insists Gallego Palacio, who points out that although 40 percent of Nutresa’s sales are made outside the country, what this shows is that there is enormous potential for many Colombian companies that They can conquer markets abroad.
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Opportunities that they will not miss, according to the manager, since they already have their eyes on three markets that they consider key for the organization: the United States, Central America and Chile, where close to 30 percent of their sales are concentrated, even though there are others that are in the exploratory stage.
The jump to multinational
The opportunities there are not only focused on increasing the product offering, there are also the possibilities of acquisitions, although in the last 10 years two thirds of Nutresa’s growth has been through organic means and not through purchases.
But the company is not only looking at the region. As is remembered, One of the objectives of the Gilinski family when it set out to conquer Grupo Nutresa was for it to make the leap from multilatina to multinational. and the vision of both the new owners, who have the knowledge and capabilities to the extent that they have businesses in the food segment, also begins to point towards that objective.
“I think that the possibility of opening other markets is there, we are exploring different fronts, we believe that there are several large markets where the company is not present and these are issues that will be developed over time. Some will be addressed under the model ‘greenfield’ (markets that are completely unexplored) and others will be done inorganically. These are topics where we have projects underway and in due course, as they come to fruition, we will inform them. We should not talk about them at such an early stage, because it would be giving information to the competition,” said Gallego Palacio.
Jaime and Gabriel Gilinski (father and son) during one of the first Grupo Sura shareholder meetings in which they participated, on their way to taking control of 99.5 percent of Grupo Nutresa.
Photo:Courtesy
He also highlighted the opportunity provided to the company by the recent FTA that Colombia signed with the government of the Arab Emirates, which he considered “good news for the country.”
He said that he likes free trade agreements, but he is convinced that they do not work alone. “There are some opportunities there, but it is up to all Colombian companies to identify the spaces in which they want to participate and
develop value offers. “It is possible that in some of the categories where one wants to enter, special characteristics, quality or certifications are needed, but we see it as a great opportunity and Nutresa is already actively working to take advantage of them.”
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This work, according to the directives, is aimed at better knowing the buyer and consumer client, what they want, what they need, where are the spaces in which Nutresa can make a different offer, in the face of which value offers are needed for the needs of those markets that have high purchasing power.
The president of the organization also made it clear that although the Gilinski family has investments in food (snack) companies, at the moment there is no approach that could indicate that an integration could occur in the immediate future. “It would have to be studied at the time, it is possible that there is some synergy on some of the fronts, but at this time they are still independent entities,” accurate.
And he pointed out that at this stage what comes next is to work so that the company, its shareholders and related groups receive a generation of economic, social and environmental value, for which they have the capabilities to do that task, as well as to do possible a prosperous business and, at the same time, positively influence society.
