By Atuna
De Cantabrian cannery Grupo Consorcio, famous for its retro designed labels on its tuna cans, will take over another icon of the Spanish canned tuna, Alfageme with its ‘Miau’ brand. Consorcio, with the help of money from the regional Galician Government and the European Investment Bank reached an agreement to take over the two production units in Galicia (in VilagarcÃa and Ribadumia) from the bankrupt Alfageme company, including 149 of its workers.
The company wants to boost the production in Galicia and grow to 230 workers, additional to the 300 people already working in its plant in Santoña (Cantabria) and the 400 working in the plant in Peru. According to a spokesman, Consorcio will invest another Euro 1 million in the Alfageme plants, mainly in new machinery. Local Galician Government funding, already heavily involved in financing the former Alfageme, will finance the biggest part of the new investments.
The takeover saves one of Spain’s most popular brands, ‘Miau’, from vanishing from the shelves. Alfageme became one of the many direct victims of the Spanish real estate crisis that caused the country’s ongoing economical crisis and recession.
In 2007, the 19th-century family business of Bernardo Alfageme was bought by a Spanish real estate group just before the Spanish housing market started to collapse. The new owners brought the company on the brink of bankruptcy and were substituted by a judge-curator. The company has liabilities of more than Euro 65 million, mainly in the form of special loans from the regional Galician Government funding.
The former Alfageme plant in VilagarcÃa will be used for the production of canned tuna from tuna loins. The plant will be reformed with the new machinery, so it will take a few months before it starts production.
The takeover is a new boost for the Consorcio brand on the Spanish market. Consorcio has a turnover of Euro 55 million. The group has a strong image as one of the oldest companies of canned fish food like shellfish, anchovy and tuna. In the 1950’s, Consorcio was famous for its canned ‘Bonito del Norte’ or albacore fished in the Gulf of Biscay.