Sicit Acquires 51% of Plant Biostimulants from Chile’s Patagonia Biotechnology

Sicit Group, a company active worldwide in the development and production of biostimulants dedicated to agriculture to improve crop yields, controlled with equal stakes by NB Renaissance and Intesa Holding, has acquired 51% of Patagonia Biotecnologia sa, a Chilean company that produces and distributes biostimulants based on seaweed.

Patagonia’s president, David Hockley, and CEO Rebeca Galvez will still remain involved in the management of the company, with current management being supported by Sicit to accelerate technological growth and business development.

Sicit was assisted by Deloitte as legal, accounting, and tax advisor, while Patagonia Biotechnology’s shareholders were supported by PPU as legal advisor and Endeavor as financial advisor and mentor to the entrepreneurs.

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Patagonia Biotechnology’s revenues have grown at a rate of about 40% over the past four years

Patagonia Biotecnologia is headquartered in Puerto Montt, the capital of the Los Lagos region between Valdivia and the Chiloe archipelago at the gateway to Chilean Patagonia. The company is dedicated to the production of soil fertilizers based on seaweed extracts unique to the pristine waters of Chilean Patagonia, where the group can count on numerous concessions that provide the competitive advantage of a large supply of raw material. Patagonia Biotechnology’s revenues have grown at a rate of about 40 percent over the past four years, reaching about €5 million by 2022, 60 percent of which will come from exports to North and South America.

Hockley and Gálvez said, “We are excited to become part of the Sicit group, with which it will be possible to give a strong boost to Patagonia Biotecnologia globally also thanks to the use of technology from the extraordinary Italian research and development laboratories.”

Fabio Canè, senior partner at NB Renaissance, commented, “Also thanks to our entry in 2021, today marks another important step: the entry into the adjacent sector of “plant-based” biostimulants, which significantly expands the company’s scope of activities by leveraging the strong development capabilities of its laboratories and existing distribution channels. This acquisition is just a first step toward a presence in the plant-based sector and is prodromal to entry into other high-tech sectors such as microorganisms as well as the development of production at other sites around the world to meet the growing demand for animal-derived biostimulants.”

Rino Mastrotto, president of Sicit, added, “I am pleased with the acquisition of Patagonia Biotechnology, which strengthens the internationalization of Sicit, a company that I have wanted and seen grow tremendously over the years. I would like to thank all the people whose constant and far-sighted work has made Sicit’s success possible through the relentless conception of excellent products that support sustainable agriculture, which is today essential for the future of the planet.”

Sicit specializes in the transformation of leather by-products into biostimulants for agriculture and retardants for the gypsum industry. The company, based in Arzignano (Vicenza), offers a strategically important service for the area’s tanning industry, withdrawing collagen byproducts by transforming them through a hydrolysis process into high value-added, fully biodegradable products without risk to public health or the environment.

In 2021, Sicit had revenues of €81.2 million, EBITDA of €26 million, and net cash of €23 million

Just in the summer of 2021, following the takeover bid promoted by NB Renaissance that led to SIcit’s delisting from the Milan Stock Exchange, Intesa Holding, a former major shareholder who had joined the bid from the outset by contributing its 40.47 percent, as part of an agreement, then acquired an equal stake with NB Renaissance in the indirect control of the group, thus remaining the company’s key industrial shareholder.

Intesa Holding is the company of a group of tanning entrepreneurs from the Veneto region, which has as its object industrial and commercial activities in the chemical sector, including the production of protein hydrolysates, natural extracts and nutraceuticals, and agricultural activities, including those preparatory and functional to the production of protein hydrolysates, natural extracts, and nutraceuticals.

NB Renaissance has twelve companies in its portfolio with an aggregate turnover of about €6 billion and 19 thousand employees. The strategy is diversified into four main investment themes: digital, sustainability, healthcare, and specialized industry, with intermediate products with high added value. The investment company supports entrepreneurs and managers in their companies’ growth plans with a partnership approach. Its latest operations include selling 27 percent of RINA’s capital last January to the same group, which decided to take over its own shares by purchasing them from Naus spa, the investment vehicle that is owned by NB Renaissance funds, as well as VEI Capital and VS&L.

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(Featured image by tristantan via Pixabay)

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