Nueva Rumasa sold to 'vulture fund'

The financially-troubled Spanish food and drink group Nueva Rumasa has been sold for a reported €1.5bn.

The purchaser is a so-called ‘vulture fund ‘ – a private equity firm specialising in taking on debt-ridden companies – called Back in Business, which was established six months ago with a working capital of €3,000.

It has been in crisis since February this year when ten of the group’s largest companies were declared insolvent.

Neither the Ruiz-Mateos family nor the new owner Ángel de Cabo, a Valenciano construction entrepreneur, will confirm the financial details, although the family still claims that the group has assets of €6bn.

Observers estimate the deal as being worth €1.5bn, although this, too, is unconfirmed.

Another of de Cabo’s companies, Posibilitum Business, took over a failing travel company, Viajes Marsans, which had got into financial difficulty, in 2010. It proved impossible to turn it round and the company was liquidated.

It remains to be seen whether any of the Rumasa group companies can be rescued.

According to the new owners the priority is to keep the group together and safeguard the jobs of the staff, which numbered some 9,000 in 2007.

However, on 20 September it was announced that dairy group Central Lechera Asturiana was offering € 48 m for Neuva Rumasa’s Cacaolat, the chocolate milkshakes producer.

In May, 2011, Rumasa had valued Cacaolat at €180m but in July made more than two-thirds of its workforce redundant.

The bodegas and brands affected by the sale of the group are members of the Garvey group.

In Jerez there is Garvey itself, Vinícola Soto, Valdivia, Zoilo Ruiz Mateos and Teresa Rivero.

Others include Cavas Hill in Penedès, Campo Nuble in Rioja, and Toro’s Marqués de Olivara.

Written by John Radford

John Radford, writer, broadcaster and Spanish wine specialist, died on 19 October 2012, aged 65. He was co-chair of Spain for the Decanter World Wine Awards since its inception and a longstanding Decanter contributor. He started out in wine retail at Vintage Wines in Nottingham, and soon discovered that he had a gift as a wine educator and communicator. He spent 13 years as a presenter on BBC local radio, while building his reputation as an expert on the wines of Spain. In 1998 his first book, The New Spain, won the Glenfiddich and Lanson awards. He followed this up with The Wines of Rioja and Cook Espana, Drink Espana (with Mario Sandoval). In 1996 was elected to the Gran Orden de Caballeros de Vino.