Oil mills: Pieralisi’s new strategy focuses on international expansion and components

A relaunch and expansion into international markets, entry into new sectors of the agri-food industry, and a greater focus on the aftermarket and mechanical components sectors. These are the priorities of Ver Capital Sgr, one of Italy’s leading asset managers, which, through the Ver Capital Special Situations fund (supported by the MEF’s Patrimonio Rilancio programme managed by CDP), has in recent days acquired 70 per cent of the share capital of Pieralisi, a true ‘pocket-sized’ multinational and world leader in olive oil processing machinery.

The company, based in Jesi (Ancona), has a turnover of 110 million euros, boasts a 140-year history and was led to global success by Gennaro Pieralisi, a visionary entrepreneur (who was, incidentally, a cousin of the actress Virna Lisi, whose real name was, in fact, Pieralisi) who passed away in 2020. Gennaro Pieralisi developed the family business to the point where it became an industry standard and a virtual global monopoly: if you want to set up an olive mill and produce high-quality oil, you need Pieralisi machinery.

This remained the case until the engineer’s death. Shortly afterwards, the family took a step back, selling the majority of its stake first to the Dea Capital fund and then to Greenarrow. Ver Capital has now acquired Greenarrow’s shares and a portion of those held by the family, bringing its stake to 70 per cent of the share capital. Greenarrow and the Pieralisi family remain shareholders with the remaining 30 per cent.

“The company went through a difficult period, particularly from a financial perspective, during the Covid pandemic,” explains Andrea Pescatori, CEO of Ver Capital. “From a financial point of view, it has now been turned round; its leverage ratio is three times EBITDA and the company is generating cash. Together with our shareholders, we have invested €16 million and negotiated a significant medium- to long-term bank refinancing. The company now has fresh capital available, both in terms of equity and debt, and is financially equipped for productive investments and international expansion.”

Pieralisi is the undisputed market leader in the sector of centrifuges for oil mills. Its other business area is the environmental sector and water treatment. “The vast majority of our turnover is still linked to olive mill technologies and oil production,” adds Pescatori, “but we are moving in two directions. One is to further enhance our food technologies, both by expanding the olive oil sector’s markets into new geographical areas and by developing our technologies in other food sectors such as tomatoes and dairy. The other area, that of environmental technologies, allows us to establish a presence in regions such as Northern Europe, where we would not be able to operate with olive oil mills given that they do not have olive oil production.”