Cerealto exits pasta to double down on high‑growth snacking

Cerealto has agreed to sell its pasta business — including its manufacturing site in Venta de Baños (Palencia, Spain) — to pasta specialist Cerealis, as the company sharpens its focus on the fast‑growing snacking and breakfast categories.

The deal remains subject to approval from the CNMC (Spanish National Commission on Markets and Competition) and the AdC (Portuguese Competition Authority).

The divestment marks a decisive step in Cerealto’s strategy to channel investment, innovation and operational focus into snacking, where the company sees its strongest expertise and the greatest long‑term growth potential.

Cerealto said its pasta division, which has delivered strong performance and benefited from sustained capital investment, will be better positioned for future expansion under a dedicated pasta player like Cerealis.

Crucially, the agreement ensures continuity at the Venta de Baños facility. All jobs, working conditions and day‑to‑day operations will remain unchanged, with no disruption expected for employees or customers.

Bosco Fonts, CEO of Cerealto, said: “This agreement is an important step in Cerealto’s growth strategy, allowing us to focus our efforts on global snack and breakfast categories, where we have a deep specialism and strong headroom for growth.

Our pasta business has been high‑performing and value accretive, benefitting from substantial capital investment in recent years. We are pleased to have met a new operator that is a specialist in pasta and has the capability to continue developing the business, while retaining the employment and working conditions for our colleagues in the pasta business unit.”

Once regulatory approvals are secured, Cerealto will begin a transition phase to ensure a smooth handover. Until then, operations will continue as normal.

The move underscores Cerealto’s ambition to become a more focused, category‑led business — with snacking at the heart of its future growth plans.