New focus: San Miguel agrees to transfer its fresh fruit operations in South Africa and Peru to strategically focus on growing the industrial business

The company will continue to operate in Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa, concentrating its business focus on promoting the production and export of lemon derivatives, strategic ingredients for its customers in the beverage, food, flavor and fragrance industries.

The offer was made by Citri&Co and represents 100% of the shares of San Miguel Fruits Peru and San Miguel Fruits South Africa, as well as exclusivity in the commercialization of fresh fruit that the company will continue to produce from Argentina and Uruguay. With this transaction, the company aims to strengthen its financial structure and reallocate capital in new investment projects aimed at expanding its product offering in its industrial business for the supply of Natural Ingredients to its strategic customers around the world.

San Miguel is the leading company in the production of citrus in the southern hemisphere and this new chapter in its history aims to strengthen its global leadership in the industrial business, in which it processes more than 300 thousand tons of lemon from its operations in Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa. From there, it produces high value-added products such as essential oils, juices, and dehydrated peel that it exports to food, beverage, and fragrance and flavor companies around the world. Likewise, the company will continue to produce and export around 60,000 tons of fresh fruit from Argentina and Uruguay, which will be commercialized from now on by Citri&Co.

“We are very excited to start this new chapter in San Miguel successful history by focusing our strategy on the development and growth of the Natural Ingredients business through new investment projects to continue supplying our customers around the world.” explained Pablo Plá, San Miguel CEO, about the agreement. 

Over the past 12 years, San Miguel has made a significant contribution in South Africa by establishing new packaging, building a trust fund for employees, and promoting local development by creating more than 2,000 jobs each season. In Peru, the company managed to increase efficiency levels and production in all crops, strengthening long-term relationships with the world's leading retailers.

"We are confident that Citri&Co has all the conditions to continue promoting fresh fruit operations in Peru and South Africa to the next level, as well as making a positive contribution to San Miguel to boost the commercialization of its fresh fruit business," concluded Plá.

The closing of the deal would be subject to the usual conditions for this type of transactions and is expected to happen in the coming weeks.