Agri-food major Grupo Fuertes has made its move into ham processing with the purchase of fellow Spanish business Jamones Albarracín.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Teruel, Jamones Albarracín focuses on the salting, drying and curing of hams.

Owned by the Dobón family, the company operates three production plants and has capacity to cure as many as 4 million pieces.

In a statement issued yesterday (7 September), Fuertes, the parent company of ElPozo Alimentación, said the acquisition supports its objective of “strengthening its core business”.

Fuertes said Jamones Albarracín will keep operating under its current model, continuing to provide ham maquila services to both existing and future customers. Its existing team will be maintained.

The company intends to make fresh investments after the acquisition for expanding and “modernising” the facilities and raise the production capacity of the curing rooms.

Fuertes is headquartered in Alhama de Murcia in Spain’s Murcia region.

Its activities span pig and cow rearing, poultry and cheese processing, and the production of mineral water and wine. The group also has interests in the real-estate and petrochemicals sectors.

Its main businesses across food production, farming and processing include ElPozo Alimentación, Cefusa, Agrifusa and Aquadeus.

In July, Fuertes entered the chicken market for the first time with the acquisitions of Tolvasa and Paasa, two Spanish family-based businesses focused on the breeding, processing and sale of chicken.

That move built on the group’s purchase last year of pork producer Agropor, which is based in Las Torres de Cotillas in Murcia, a city in south-eastern Spain.

Founded in 1972, Agropor is involved in pig farming and pork supply, while also growing citrus fruit and cereal crops including barley.