Family Bernat sells Chupa Chups Group to Perfetti van Melle

After more than five decades manufacturing the famous lollypos the Bernat family Bernat decided to sell Barcelona-based Chupa Chups S.A., to Perfetti van Melle S.P.A., Milan. According to German and Spanish press reports, the purchase price should be € 400m. 1958 Chupa Chups was founded by Enric Bernat Fontlladosa. The company 1600 employees worldwide and distributes Chupa Chups and Smint brands in 150 countries. Revenues in 2005 were appr. € 265m.


Chupa Chups will keep its head office in Cataluña as well as the main manufacturing facilities in Spain. The decision to sell was taken after a long and detailed strategic process. This resulted in the initiation, a few months ago, of a program to identify the best alliance partner to improve and consolidate the brands´ presence in certain specific geographies.


Perfetti Van Melle´s innovative and entrepreneurial culture, similar to that of Chupa Chups, creates the basis for a successful combination, and this has been one of the determining factors for the Spanish group to conclude this agreement. Perfetti acquired Van Melle in 2001, creating one of the largest
confectionery companies in the world.


Perfetti´s successful management of the merger and the sensitive integration of the Dutch and Italian cultures provide an excellent precedent for a good transition. Both companies have maintained a business relationship for nearly 10 years, which has been anchored in two distribution JVs (in Germany and the UK) as well as a distribution agreement in Poland.