CLIENT FOCUS
Strategie path
Top forum
Speaking out
the clients' extended family and to be
privy to their strategizing,' he says.
After recognizing a path to help lnver-
alia achieve their strategie goals - a
concentration ofcompanies in the food
sector - an ongoing pattern of advice
and introductions, M&A activity and
debt financing followed. Rl Madrid
advised and financed Inveralia's invest-
ment in a wide variety of segments, each
with significant growth expectations.
Specifically, RI Madrid has supported
Inveralia's investment in Conservas
Fernandez (canned vegetables), provided
debt financing for the 25 percent acqui-
sition of Restmon (casual dining) and
advice and financing for the acquisition
of Europastry and Fripan/Frida (both in
the frozen dough segment and forming,
by far, the dominant group), Most re-
cently, Rl Madrid provided advisory
services, acquisition plans and financing
to Inveralia in collaboration with ven
ture capitalists for the Management Buy
Out (MBO) of Zena, California and
Cenesa (food service). The resulting
partnership has formed the leading
restaurant group in Spain.
'In addition to underpinning our acqui
sition strategy, RI's expertise in the
global market is advantageous for Inver
alia," says Fernando Martinez, Inver
alia's General Manager. 'RI's indepth
knowledge of the global market and
F&A issues is extremely valuable to us.
Furthermore, value added services, such
as our active participation in the inter
national platform provided by the May
2002 RI Global Fresh Produce Confer
ence (see side bar), bring an influx of
knowledge and facilitate cross border
deals.' The other tasty benefit that has
been grasped by Inveralia, is a seat on
the Spanish F&A Advisory Board. Set
up by Rl, the board now includes repre-
sentatives from 10 of the 15 most
prominent Spanish F&A companies.
The potential power of this forum as a
lobbying tooi cannot be underestimated.
From RI's perspective, the advisory
board is invaluable because it adds a
competitive edge to RI by providing
direct feedback from industry players
about issues and market trends, further-
ing our understanding of the market,
and subsequently enhancing our stand
ing as a worthy sparring partner.
Steven Winegar, Zena's GM - fresh input
Speaking at our Global Fresh
Produce Conferencebeid in the
Netherlands earlier this year was
Steven Winegar, Zena Group's Man-
aging Director. Zena is one of the
largest restaurant operators in Spain,
directly operating approximately .125
restaurants, with forecasted sales for
2002 of €225 million. It is a multi-
brand operator, the largest franchisee
of Pizza Hut in Fiurope and a major
franchisee of Burger King. Winegar
used the conference to discuss what
he considers is the single largest
business issue facing the food sector
in Spain and tntich of Europe today -
the lack of skilied labor in the food
service industry. Conference presenta-
tion notes can be downloaded from
meeting point.
The Word I 23
