Alpina Savoie

Galapagos, a Rennes-based food producer, founded and led by Christian Tacquard, has reorganised the shareholder structure of its subsidiary Alpina Savoie and has welcomed new investors in order to accelerate the development of France’s oldest semolina and pasta producer.

Founded in 1844 and based in Chambéry, Alpina Savoie specialises in milling durum wheat into semolina, and making pasta, couscous and cereal products. Alpina Savoie has traditionally been known for its speciality products, particularly its famous "crozets" pasta, and has been able to capitalise on its pasta-making expertise and its high-value-added brand to develop a wide range of high-quality cereal products. To achieve that, management has built a French durum wheat supply network consisting of local farmers. The wheat is grown in France and is converted first into semolina by the company’s mill, and then into finished products at the Chambéry site. This means that Alpina Savoie is fully in control of product quality: it offers products that are entirely of French origin as well as organic products, and it operates in a way that respects both local farmers and the environment. The group sells its products in all distribution channels—i.e. mass retail, industrial food producers, foodservice and export—and has annual revenue of around €45 million.

Since acquiring Alpina Savoie from the Chiron family in 2009, Galapagos has given the Savoie-based company fresh impetus by repositioning it in the market. Galapagos has now invited new investors—i.e. Crédit Mutuel Equity, Bpifrance and Alpina Savoie’s two senior managers Jean-Philippe Lefrançois (CEO) and François Coronel (CFO)—to become shareholders of Alpina Savoie. The transaction is intended to strengthen the company’s Savoie roots and support the current management team in implementing its development strategy.

"With its newly launched products, particularly its 100% French and organic ranges for the mass retail market, along with pasta that can be rehydrated in cold water for the foodservice market, Alpina Savoie has in the last few years shown its ability to offer innovative new products and meet customer expectations in growth segments of the market. I was determined to continue the adventure by giving the current managers a stake in the business and using the expertise of Crédit Mutuel Equity to help us with our upcoming development, while strengthening our roots in the Savoie economy with the support of Bpifrance’s local office," summarised Christian Tacquard, chairman of Galapagos.

Frédéric Plas and Jérôme Geney, Managing Directors at Crédit Mutuel Equity, are also delighted with the partnership. "Christian Tacquard and his managers have scaled up the company with products that are ideally suited to its industrial expertise. Alpina Savoie now has strong growth potential, and we are very much looking forward to supporting the company as it implements the ambitious roadmap that we have put together with the team."

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