Christmas has come early for Périgord-based Caviar de Neuvic. The company, which generates €8 million in revenue and employs 56 people, has completed a lengthy and significant €11.6 million funding round initiated two years ago. The objective is to acquire two fish farms in the Pyrénées-Orientales from the Aqualande group, together with a stock of 150 tonnes of Baerii and Ossetra sturgeon, with a view to tripling its current production of six tonnes within seven years – the time required for the female sturgeon to reach maturity.
Crédit Mutuel Equity, the cornerstone investor in the transaction, which was carried out alongside a banking pool, joins Olma Luxury as a key shareholder in one of France’s three leading caviar producers. Founded in 2012 in Neuvic (Dordogne), one year after the international moratorium on wild sturgeon fishing, the company operates 20 hectares of ponds along the Isle River. In 2023, it became the world’s first freshwater aquaculture business to receive B Corp certification, reflecting its sustainable farming model based on water management, organic fish feed and the economic valorisation of “95%” of the fish, including through collagen and pigments used in cosmetics.
“We need to stop being plundered”
The acquisition is being completed following an exceptionally hot summer, during which founder and CEO Laurent Deverlanges recorded unprecedented water temperatures of more than 25°C in the company’s ponds, slowing production. By contrast, the ponds at Salses-le-Château (Pyrénées-Orientales), near Perpignan, are supplied by “karst springs that remain constant in both flow and temperature, at 17°C–18°C throughout the year,” he explains. One of the two springs, Font Estramar, is known for record-breaking scuba dives – reaching a depth of 312 metres – as well as, tragically, for its dangers.
However, cooler water is not Laurent Deverlanges’ only motivation. He has consistently sought to defend and expand French production, currently standing at 47 tonnes, against the rapid rise of Chinese caviar. Chinese production has increased from virtually zero to 322 tonnes in 15 years, 99% of which is exported, “primarily to France”. “It is a modern form of caviar diplomacy: if China succeeds in selling its caviar to French chefs, it demonstrates its ability to sell luxury food products worldwide,” he explains.
“We need to find new production capacity in order to survive,” insists Deverlanges, who is also planning to convert carp ponds in Tarn-et-Garonne. French consumption, at 70 tonnes, significantly exceeds domestic production, while the global market – estimated at $412 million (€353.7 million) for 750 tonnes – continues to grow rapidly.
The Salses transaction “took time, but it has triggered others that will be announced in the coming weeks,” says Deverlanges, who is spearheading “the consolidation of the industry in France and Europe”. Caviar de Neuvic, which already works with three partners in Bulgaria, Italy and Spain, positions itself as a “platform that other players willing to fight can join”.
“We need to stop being plundered by the Chinese and organise ourselves with the players that remain.” There are seven producers in France, including Prunier, which shares the same shareholder, Olma Luxury. The two companies have also revived discussions around a share exchange that failed to materialise in 2023.
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