After overcoming a union conflict with a group linked to left-wing parties, which even cut off access to its factory, Georgalos resumed operations by launching a range of products that it incorporated into its assets.
In reality, Owner of the traditional Mantecol brand It reached a new category under the concept “Georgalos activates ice cream mode”, with an initial production of 1.5 million units, a feat that required an investment of approximately $1.5 million.
In this way, it began to compete in this sector with its most popular brands such as Mantecol, Palitos de la Selva, Flynn Paff, Toddy and Full Maní, which are sold in kiosks, local stores, supermarkets and also via digital channels.
This strategy is part of the expansion plan launched by the company, led by Guillermo Rimoldi, last May, and is supported by a capital injection of approximately $100 million from various alternatives to be able to raise this money in the coming years.
In order to achieve this goal, the Board of Directors of Georgalos appointed Banco Santander to explore these financing options, including alliances, joint ventures or even merging new partners without considering this process of selling Mantecol again.
Tough times for Georgalos
However, despite the more positive context shown by the country’s economy after the elections that took place last October 26, the company has put its plan on standby, at least until signs of relief are strengthened and the government of President Javier Miley is able to recast Argentina’s overall scenario positively and continuously.
The path to obtaining funds to finance the local growth strategy and regionalization of Georgalos was not rejected, but the company believes that the deadlines must be more careful when analyzing the various variables to achieve these goals.
The initiative to raise new funds from new debt that promotes future asset purchases, especially in countries that form part of the Andean Pact and the Southern Cone region, has not been abandoned, but the goal has been “frozen” pending a healthier context, both politically and economically, in Argentina.
In this sense, one of the other alternatives that has now been postponed is to open Georgalos’ capital to the stock market to obtain sufficient funds from the capital market to achieve this regional listing.
Specifically, the company’s executives decided to wait to implement either of these plans, such as selling part of the company’s capital to a new strategic partner, or preparing it to list part of its shares on the stock market.
The owner of Mantecol seeks to remove uncertainty
The decision was made independently of the political noise shaking Argentina so far in 2025, although the election results were taken into account by the company’s board of directors.
In the company they understand that Political uncertainty caused economic turmoil that disturbed some macroeconomic variables Which had negative effects on part of the content of this expansion process, which was also affected by the international scenario of greater instability.
After analyzing the situation… The process began to take place “more quietly” until “everything fell into place,” especially considering this Part of the strategy is to take on debt or look for new capital.
Currently, the market conditions to go down this path have changed to such an extent that after launching two successful series of Negotiable Obligations (ON), the company will also take its time to reissue this type of securities.
Temporarily stopping the regional expansion plan is a temporary decision
But the company confirms this The brakes are temporary The integration of a new shareholder will resume soon because the strategy is considering adding an external partner to face the regional structuring process and integrate advanced technology to be able to move the company to another level of productivity.
The idea is completed by adding one or several foreign companies, allowing Georgalos to have a strong presence in other markets in the region, while at the same time modernizing its current local factories to put them at the forefront to compete with the entry of imported competition that is growing increasingly and significantly.
Moreover, Georgalos thinks Take care of the financial health of the company Which, in terms of volume, was able to grow in sales compared to last year, despite the decline in its profitability, especially the company’s profitability.
This forces its executives to “carry out their duties internally, Adjusting accounts in proportion to the profitability of the business, Because the rest of the profits are typical of the inflationary process that Argentina is still going through.
In this sense, it is considered that inflation always hides the inefficiency of companies and that it becomes easier not to look for these shortcomings, taking into account that the inflationary wheel allows the money paid at interest rates to become cheaper, but profitability generates a decrease of two or three points as a result of the product values not being adjusted to the market reality.
Georgalos’ three-step plan
But although the overall scenario has changed since Georgalos announced the launch of its local and regional growth plan, the company confirms that this is a decision that has been made, although it admits that the speed of implementation of the strategy will be “slower.”
At least, until the political and economic horizon looks more stable such that international capital has the confidence to inject money into an Argentine company or until it becomes more stable to risk private capital to support new projects.
Moreover, the designed strategy aims to achieve three main objectives such as modernizing its industrial infrastructure, launching new production lines, and strengthening its production presence in Latin America.
In this sense, I thought about making improvements to the Rio Segundo factory, one of the oldest factories, as well as adding technology to make operations more efficient, especially in the field of chocolate, where an investment of approximately 25 million US dollars is planned.
In addition, it sought to expand beyond commercial matters and establish production operations in countries such as Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
In parallel, the outlook remains optimistic regarding business operations during 2025, as they expect its sales to reach approximately US$230 million, which represents double-digit growth compared to 2024.
Go home
Expansion plans were resumed in July 2022, when Georgalos bought the Mantecol brand from the international group Mondelez and, in this way, regained control of an emblematic brand that over time became a generic brand of the sector in the style of Paté and Savora Foods; Gillette for razors or Bayaspirin for headache relief.
The “return home” was achieved after 21 years since January 18, 2001, when he sold it to the local company of the British group Cadbury Schweppes due to the economic situation of the country and the bitter taste that the effect of tequila left on the Georgalos family.
At that time, the European group paid 22.6 million US dollars, money that helped Georgalos to pay off a significant part of the liabilities it had accumulated, capitalize and produce new products.
But the process also prevented it from competing in the peanut candy market for seven years, after which, in 2008, it launched Nucrem, which now coexists with Mantecol and is produced at Mondelez’s factory, located in Victoria, Buenos Aires.
Other traditional sweets such as Giraffe, Lengüetazo, Bazooka and Palos de la Selva are also manufactured in that establishment, which was also part of the return of Mantecol operations to the company founded in 1939 by Miguel Georgalos, an immigrant who arrived in the 1930s from the Greek island of Chios and whose first creation was a halva-derived peanut candy.
The origin of the myth
The name Manticole comes from a neighbor of this businessman, who asserted that because of the way he served the dessert wrapped in aluminum foil, it looked very similar to butter bread.
After that, Georgalos began production in 1939 in the federal capital, specifically in the Floresta neighborhood, where he moved with his wife to a house located on the corner of Segurola and Elpidio Gonzalez Streets.
A few years later, they bought the old All Boys field on the same corner to locate the company’s first factory which was initially called La Greco Argentina until it became Georgalos Hnos.
At the end of the 1950s, the family began to look for a field in Cordoba to become self-sufficient in peanuts and advance the business, and they arrived in the city of Río Segundo, which became the headquarters of the company and its flagship brand that became increasingly well-known among Argentine consumers.
But after this recognition, the Manticol name was strengthened by Miguel Georgalos’ friendship with Manuel García Ferré, the creator of Antiogito and who for years gave the company the back cover of a children’s magazine, a strategy that helped him experience a strong growth process until the brand was sold.
However, in 2022, the company was able to restore its logo representing the closing of the company’s second deal in nine months since it bought in October 2021 100% of the shares of Alimesa SA, a Pepsico-owned plant located in the province of La Rioja and where Toddy and Zucoa are produced, which were added to the Georgalos portfolio as Flynn Paff; Nucrime. Namur. whole peanut Tokke and those to be joined by Mantecol; Bazooka. Tonguetazo and jungle sticks.
Georgalos also has a line of chocolates with no added sugar, another line of pastries, nougats, jams and Christmas breads, along with Flow cereal bars and breakfast cereals following the acquisition of General Cereals.
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