Introduction to Deoleo S.A.

Deoleo is a Spanish food group that quotes on the Spanish stock market and it is the
world leader in sales of bottled olive oil. Under “Deoleo”  there are famous and well
recognized brands as Carbonell, Sasso, Bertolli and Carapelli.
Deoleo was founded in 1990 by a company called Arana Maderas S.A. After Deoleo´s
foundation, the company received the name of Grupo Industrial Arana, S.A. In 1992 it
bought a top-selling rice brand called Hijos de J. Sos Borrás, S.A. After this merger, the
company changed its name to Sos Arana Alimentación, S.A. and purchased other
famous rice companies as Saludaes and American Rice. At the beginning of the 21st
century, in order not to focus only on the rice sector, it purchased Cuétara S.A. Hence,
Sos Arana Alimentación entered in the biscuit sector. They both merged giving rise to
Sos Cuétara S.A. In order to extend its industry, Sos Cuétara S.A. purchased the
company Koipe S.A., which was a leader in the Spanish olive oil market and it was the
owner of the brands Carbonell and Koipesol. In 2003 these two companies merged and
from this point till 2008 it purchased several Italian brands as Sasso, Carapelli,
Friol and Bertolli. Finally, it became the largest industrial group in olive oil in the
world.
Nevertheless, there were some financial problems. With Bertolli´s purchase, the
company´s financial debt rose hugely so it had to sell Cuétara. This first divestment
made Deoleo be primarily focused on the rice and oil sectors. Due to more problems,
the company had to replace the top management and to restructure its economic system.
Finally, in 2010, with the sale of the rice business, the company was gratefully
refinanced.
Unfortunately, after this bad economic situation, the company is nowadays only focused
on the oil business.