SPAIN - Calvo opens its doors to private equity

The brothers Calvo Pumpido have reportedly given Nmás 1 mandate to find suitable shareholders for their company Calvo. The Galician family owns 77.8% of the business, which is dedicated to fishing, production and sale of canned fish. The remaining stake of 22.2% is owned by the consortium of building societies Caixanova, Caja de Burgos and Caja Castilla- La Mancha. The parties refused to comment about the operation, but the management is reportedly looking into closing business with a private equity firm before the end of Q1 next year. Calvo is among the top five companies of its sector worldwide. It obtained profits of around EUR 350m in 2005, as opposed to EUR 257m of the previous exercise.