Verfrut was founded in 1996, becoming a leading fresh produce company in Chile and Peru, with over 7,500 hectares of agricultural and growing facilities for grapes, cherries, apples, and blueberries.

In addition, the company has a strong sales and distribution network in the USA, the EU, South America, and China. In this context, the company was acquired 100% by Unifrutti, aiming to expand its multi-fruit platform further and meet the growing global demand for premium products.

To learn more about the details of the transactions in the Chilean fruit industry, we spoke with the president and founder of Verfrut, Romano Vercellino, who said "The sale of Verfrut comes from a strategic business opportunity. Having an orderly and consolidated company, we wanted to evaluate and challenge ourselves."

History

Vercellino explains that they see the sale of the company as a milestone, which fills them with pride for the work done during all these years. The businessman recalls that he started at the age of 18 selling fruit in Lo Valledor, a local market, then went on to lease plots of land and finally took the step, with the support of the government of the time and the banks, to start planting grapes.

Verfrut's founder commented that the company's beginnings were in the O'Higgins region. "We started with zero capital. We started with credits from banks with facilities for cereal growers. And CORFO wanted to promote areas that were in abandonment."

In 2011 the Vercellino family decided to reach Peru and plant 400 hectares. "We saw an opportunity in the existing productive and commercial window. It was a complement to what we produced and marketed in Chile."

He emphasized that during all these years at Verfrut, they were always visionary and dynamic, "capable of adapting to the needs of consumers, and very importantly, knowing how to understand the changes in markets and the challenges presented by the industry. This is how we always work to make quick, strategic decisions and to be very operative in all our actions."

Support

According to its founder, the company's success is not only due to his management and good agribusiness skills but also to the team that has accompanied him over the years.

"My son Romano Vercellino Martínez is the only one involved in the day-to-day running of the company, as he is the general manager of the export company Verfrut, the arm of the company that markets all our production. My son, Juan Ignacio, was in charge of setting up our commercial office, Forever Fresh, in the United States".

The founder of the company commented that his right-hand man was his brother-in-law, Javier Martínez, "He has accompanied me from the beginning and is the general manager of the entire company."

He also valued the support of his friend Mariano Rodríguez, who is currently the commercial director of Verfrut. "Together we formed the export company many years ago and managed to make the leap from producer to exporter".

He also took the opportunity to thank and highlight the entire team. "All our work has been achieved with our people, who have sacrificed much of their lives to accompany me, many have been with me since my beginnings. I thank them enormously and I trust them completely and I know that they will always accompany me if necessary. Thank you very much to each one of them, because they know who I mean".

Sale

The founder of Verfrut referred to the beginnings of the commercial transaction process "we were invited to participate in a sales process. And we wanted to show ourselves and see how much we were worth. We received several offers and they had to compete to keep Verfrut".

Vercellino defined the transaction as a goal. "It was a challenge we always had in our thoughts. Today it has become a reality, it is a success".

Asked about how long they will continue leading Verfrut, he emphasized that in principle they expect it to be for three years and they project that it can be extended in time.

"Now we have to take care of Verfrut, we continue to operate ourselves and we have goals to meet. We are very responsible and we want the legacy of the company to continue. We see many business possibilities, we know the industry very well and we want the new owners to be even more satisfied. It is difficult to say that we are out of the agribusiness. I don't think so," he assures.

Industry

With more than 35 years in agriculture, Romano Vercellino has witnessed the transactions, mergers, and bankruptcies that have taken place in the Chilean fruit industry.

"The industry is dynamic, the most important thing is to stay focused, do what we know, and believe in our business. This milestone is for us to believe as businessmen in the fruit sector. We hope to give confidence to the sector," said the president and founder of Verfrut.

Verfrut's objective is to produce 100% of our fruit and to achieve 100% vertical integration.

He added that another of the company's legacies is to provide the necessary tools to the teams to meet the objectives.