To move crops from the field to major distributors, more than 2,400 trucks of fruit and vegetables run each week, and every part of the transport chain must operate flawlessly. Primafrio operates a fleet that surpasses 3,000 trucks, driven by almost twice as many drivers, who cover 452 million kilometers annually. “I think they are the bravest workers you could have. They are passionate about their work,” says Jose Esteban Conesa, president and chief executive of the company and the second-generation representative of a family that began a logistics business in Murcia in 1963 and that this year aims to generate 600 million in revenue.
From Primafrio’s core, a 400,000-square-meter logistics center opened in 2017 in Alhama de Murcia, a municipality in this Mediterranean autonomous region with more than 23,000 inhabitants. The company, a reference in road transport of temperature-controlled horticultural products, coexists with an industrial fabric that includes well-known names like El Pozo and PC Componentes. “I think it’s important to feel the pulse of the employees. They are the ones who row with you, the ones who will help you,” says the head of a company that employs 5,000 workers, preferring a space fully integrated with the workforce. “Here you see veterans, but most faces are young. We value their opinions. A suggestion is never undervalued,” notes the executive, who joined the firm in 1988.
From Huelva to the World
Conesa has been involved in the business his parents started when drivers rode with Pegaso Europa, enabling Spanish products to reach beyond borders. “I was a kid and my parents already let me travel with the drivers,” the executive recalls. He highlights the strawberry, the product that initially brought joy to the company. “A farmer from Lepe, in the field, told me the strawberry leaves as a baby from Huelva and arrives as a teenager in Germany. Our job is to ensure it never arrives at the consumer table as an old product,” he says, reiterating that it is an exceedingly delicate fruit. “From harvest, the strawberry perishes in five or six days. We were pioneers in handling a product so challenging,” he adds, referring to a fruit that accounts for 14% of revenue and whose primary destination is European supermarket shelves abroad. “We are present in 27 countries, mostly in Europe, both Western and Eastern,” he notes about the international business, which represents 80% of revenue and is highlighted by a major German supplier with whom his father began cooperating in 1989, becoming its largest supplier.
“As a country, we need a little more awareness. A consumer from Germany, France, or the United Kingdom, if there is a product from their country, would not consider buying a foreign one. That sentiment isn’t as evident here.” In this sense, Conesa, who has worked with producers for years, empathizes with the demands Spanish farmers faced last spring. “We cannot pass on the enormous rise in costs that has occurred, especially after the coronavirus pandemic, and we share their frustration. At that moment, they frustrated us, but we understand and share their demands.”
Road to the Future
In 2021, Primafrio came very close to listing. In fact, the company prepared its prospectus for the market. In the summer of that year, the Murcia-based firm was expected to list shares at a price between 9.30 and 12.10 euros, valuing the company at roughly 1.3 to 1.69 billion euros. The global coordinators of the offering were JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. “Market conditions did not materialize,” says Conesa about a proposed initial public offering that was halted.
Nevertheless, nine months later Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest private equity managers, reached an agreement with the founding family to acquire 49.99% (50% minus one share) of the group, valued at 1.5 billion euros. Evercore acted as joint bookrunner, with legal advisers Linklaters, Ashurst and Paul, Weiss. “The fund’s entry was always on the premise that we would retain a majority stake to organize the business,” the company president explains.
The motive for allowing their entry, according to Conesa, was clear: “To push us two decades ahead of our needs.” These needs relate to building an even larger European infrastructure. This summer, Primafrio inaugurated its first logistics platform in France—a 77,000-square-meter complex located to the east of the country, in the Belfort department, Bourgogne-Franco‑Condado, to strengthen demand for logistical solutions in Europe, with a particular focus on France, Germany, Switzerland and the Eastern European markets.
Extensive Network
The new plant joins seven facilities in the Iberian Peninsula and the total of 45 logistics centers that Primafrio depends on across Europe. “Beyond the production-node centers, at the border in Spain, we have two major platforms in Girona and Vitoria. These also serve as rest areas for drivers. We also have one in Madrid, specifically in Pinto, to coordinate all domestic product movements. And as a waypoint abroad, for now we have Brentfort, which acts as the border between France and Germany,” Conesa explains about a network through which their trucks operate daily.
Nevertheless, the ambition to go further, faster, and keep products in better condition keeps Primafrio seeking to expand this network with new facilities. “We plan to build another plant in Italy, where we already own land and are developing the project. This center will serve not only for unloading in the country but also for all Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, and even extending to Greece,” he adds.
With the expansion plan toward the East and South of Europe underway, Conesa always looks ahead, gazing “twenty years into the horizon,” advice he also gives his son, Jose Esteban Conesa Vivancos, chief executive officer and representative of the third generation in the family business.
Primafrio is also negotiating to set up another logistics center in western France. “It will serve Belgium and the Netherlands,” he details. These projects carry costs of between 30 and 40 million euros, a budget financed by a fund, and Conesa notes that the company was glad not to rely on bank financing alone. “The interests would have been higher, and the money would have gone elsewhere. We are happy with that decision.” He also concedes that Apollo will not stay forever; “We are very pleased with them, but when they exit the capital, we will see what happens: whether another fund or other options come in. And a stock market listing is not ruled out.”
Another major milestone in recent years has been the refinancing of its debt. Specifically, 525 million euros linked to Apollo Global Management’s entry. Primafrio also syndicated a bridge loan in the market with several investment banks, including a 75 million euro line of credit that the group can use for working capital and additional needs. “We are refinancing on better terms,” he reiterates.
This narrative is presented as part of a broader series highlighting family businesses and the leaders who have left a mark on the country, capturing a moment in which resilient, forward-thinking families shape the industry landscape.