Two of Spain’s largest olive oil producers have joined forces to acquire a majority stake in Deoleo, the world’s largest olive oil bottler and retailer.
Rivals Acesur and Dcoop have submitted a €520 million bid for the owner of the Carbonell, Bertolli, Carapelli, Koipe and Maestros de Hojiblanca brands, surpassing the €500 million offered by Italian family-owned olive oil company Coricelli Group and Seville-based Migasa.
The joint acquisition would give Acesur and Dcoop nearly complete control of Deoleo Holding, which controls Deoleo S.A.’s operating businesses.
The deal’s completion remains subject to regulatory approvals, including antitrust clearances in Spain and the United States and foreign direct investment authorization from Italian authorities.
The transaction also requires approval from other Deoleo shareholders, including Ole Investments, which has formally committed to supporting the deal. Japanese company Mizkan must also agree not to terminate its Bertolli licensing agreement for at least two months after the acquisition is completed.
Deoleo expects the process to take six to eight months, with its current management team running the company in the meantime.
Luis Planas, Spain’s minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, welcomed the agreement as “very good news for the olive oil sector, the agri-food sector and for the Spanish economy as a whole.”
Before the last-minute bid from Acesur and Dcoop, the Spanish government had indicated it preferred Deoleo to return to Spanish ownership.
Planas echoed the companies’ claims that the acquisition would keep more of the value generated by Spanish olive oil production in the country and ultimately benefit domestic growers.
Rocío Blanco, the employment and business minister in the Andalusian regional government, also welcomed the proposed acquisition.
The fact that “a cooperative located in a rural area has taken over the production of olive oil at the Andalusian, national, and international levels is good news, because it gives an idea of the power and capacity of our cooperative movement, our companies, to carve out a niche in a sector as important as olive oil production,” she told Canal Sur.
Blanco added that the deal would support regional employment and benefit the 75,000 families Dcoop represents.
Acesur chief executive Gonzalo Guillén and Dcoop president Antonio Luque also welcomed the agreement, emphasizing the importance of retaining more of the revenue generated by Deoleo’s substantial international sales in Spain.
According to regulatory filings, Deoleo reported €821 million in sales in 2025, €50 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), and a net profit of €20 million.
Despite support from Deoleo’s management, Acesur, Dcoop, and the Spanish government, the company’s shares fell nearly 22 percent after the announcement, to €0.274 per share.
Analysts at JB Capital attributed the decline to the lower-than-expected sale price. The firm had previously valued Deoleo at €600 million.