PANZANI acquired by CEREALIS / SOFINA

CVC Capital Partners entered exclusive negotiations on 16 October 2026 to sell its majority stake in Panzani, the Lyon-based pasta maker, to the shareholders of the Portuguese group Cerealis, after five years of ownership. Combined with Cerealis, which earned around 400 million euros in 2025, the enlarged group would carry an enterprise value of about 1.8 billion euros, consolidated revenue of close to 1 billion euros and nearly 1,800 employees, split evenly between the two businesses. The buyers are the founding families of Cerealis, Moreira Da Silva and Silva Domingues, alongside the Belgian investment company Sofina, which had entered the Portuguese group’s capital in January 2026. CVC would keep a minority holding, and all four shareholders would sit on the board. Both companies would retain their operational autonomy, Panzani remaining French and headquartered in Lyon, Cerealis Portuguese and based in Porto. Pedro Moreira da Silva, executive vice-president of Cerealis, would become chief executive of the combined group. Panzani chief executive Albert Mathieu would take on its central European operations, while Cerealis chief executive Paula Meireles would lead private label activities in the Iberian peninsula and abroad. The two product ranges complement each other, Panzani covering pasta, couscous, semolina and sauces in France, the Netherlands and central Europe, Cerealis adding breakfast cereals, cereal bars, biscuits and flour in Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland. The sale returns Panzani to industrial ownership, after a history alternating between funds and corporate groups. Created by Jean Panzani in the 1940s, the brand was bought by BSN-Gervais Danone in the 1970s, sold to PAI Partners in 1997 as part of a portfolio that also included William Saurin and Garbit, then combined with part of Lustucru in 2002 and sold to Ebro Puleva for 640 million euros in 2010. CVC acquired it from Ebro Foods in 2021 in a transaction valuing the business at 550 million euros, financed with a 340 million euro term loan B and a 60 million euro revolving facility. A further 180 million euro term loan B followed in 2024 to repay a shareholder loan, and the debt was refinanced in May 2026 with 90 million euros added to fund the purchase of GranFood, a Dutch savoury grocery business. Completion remained subject to consultation of employee representatives and to regulatory approvals.

It is worth noting that the fund Cvc took control of Panzani through an LBO in 2021.