La Caixa will enter Europastry with a 20% stake.

BarcelonaLa Caixa, through its investment arm, Criteria, is deepening its strategy of strengthening the local productive fabric, acquiring a 20% stake in the Catalan company Europastry. The transaction, which will involve a disbursement of around €300 million, follows four unsuccessful attempts to go public by the manufacturer of frozen dough for bakeries, a leader in this activity internationally.

The alliance aims to boost the company's growth, accelerate its expansion, and reinforce its commitment to innovation and productive excellence, according to Criteria, which had already planned to acquire a 5% stake in the company in the last planned IPO, which was ultimately halted.

The Europastry transaction, which is part of this strategy, will be formalized over the coming weeks. This move fits into La Caixa's strategy of investing in leading companies "in highly attractive sectors, with the capacity for growth and value generation," within the framework of its 2030 strategic plan, as explained by the holding company.

The initiative is part of Criteria's diversification strategy, which has the largest portfolio of business investments in Spain, valued at over €30 billion. According to the holding company chaired by Isidre Fainé, with this step, Criteria gains ground in the food sector, and the company, in turn, strengthens its long-term strategy.

Within La Caixa's plans, this investment is part of the private equity portfolio, expected to reach a value of 4 billion in 2030. Of this sum, half will be allocated to direct investments, such as that of Europastry and the 18% that the Belgian group will contribute. The other half will be invested indirectly, such as the 100 million committed to the technology fund of Javier Santiso, former director of Telefónica.

In total, the portfolio of participations, which includes strategic ones such as CaixaBank (31%), Naturgy (26.71%), Telefónica (9.9%) and Colonial (17.32%); of diversification, such as 3% of Puig or 9.36% of ACS, and of real estate activity, through Inmocaixa, is expected to reach 40 billion euros in 2030, according to the strategic plan drawn up after the arrival of Àngel Simón as CEO in January of last year.

At the end of February, Criteria signed an agreement with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to collaborate in the development and deployment of the 100 Companies Plan, designed by CriteriaCaixa within its 2025-2030 strategic plan. The objective is to invest in more than 100 unlisted companies established in Spain and southern Europe over the next five years through a combination of direct and indirect investment.

Europastry had a turnover of 1,506 million euros last year and an operating result (EBITDA) of 237 million. The company, whose main shareholder is the Gallés family, allocated 124.4 million euros to investments in research and development (R&D) and technology, a record level. With this initiative, Criteria consolidates its commitment to seeking long-term investment options aimed at developing the industrial fabric.

Europastry's CEO, Jordi Gallés, explained this morning at an event in Barcelona that "the company is experiencing a period of high growth" and wants to "ensure future growth." He also explained that they had been looking for "a way to finance this growth" for some time. Regarding the tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, he stated that the company has three plants in that country and that a large part of its production is local, so they do not expect the measure to have too much of an impact.