The Corriere del Veneto writes about Veraison Group, its recent establishment and its business model. Edoardo Freddi also talks about future challenges and how the wine sector will see more and more such aggregations in the coming years.
“Wine needs a lot of aggregation operations. But I hope it will be more industrial than financial”. An aggregation between very strong commercial companies, including the Veronese Salvaterra, a major player in Amarone. With the objective of further expansion. Against the backdrop of a wine world that is increasingly on the move with regard to aggregations, Edoardo Freddi, managing director of Veraison in the Veneto region, returns to the aggregation project launched a month ago, which starts from an aggregated turnover of 30 million euro.
This project has brought together four realities: in addition to Salvaterra, present in 40 markets, the Mantua-based Progetti Agricoli, and the Romagna-based 4Ru. Added to this is the Freedl group, the holding company led by Freddi, which represents more than 50 Italian wine cellars abroad on the one hand, and on the other is active with companies purchasing finished or bulk wine products, resold under its own brands. It will be Freedl that will have the role of leader of Veraison, with 51%: Freddi is its managing director, alongside president Roberto Giacobone, arriving from Salvaterra.
An interesting aggregation project, because it is made by operators in the sector. “We have grouped together three companies with which we collaborated and into which we entered between 2017 and 2018,” explains Freddi. “The companies will remain separate, also by virtue of different networks and commercial positioning. We are not thinking of a merger today, but we will appoint a commercial director and do joint activities. We wanted a new model, one that did not put everything together straight away. More driven to date by a financial choice. The framework is in the making: we plan to present the definitive set-up at the forthcoming Vinitaly and Prowein.
And yet the direction of travel for the future is clear; and it looks to growth through acquisitions. “We plan to make another aggregation by the end of the year and one next year,” adds Freddi. “We want to increase to 7-8 companies involved, through acquisitions. Asset light realities: companies with few vineyards, but commercially launched. To increase to a turnover of over 50 million euro’. Because the objective is to strengthen our presence abroad, in new countries or where there is room to increase market share.
