CREMONINI SPA ACQUIRES 5% OF CCEC (CLASS and COMMERCE CHINA), CONTROLLED BY CLASS EDITORI, FOR ENTRY INTO CHINA’S LARGEST B2B PLATFORM (CCIGMall)

CREMONINI SPA ACQUIRES 5% OF CCEC (CLASS and COMMERCE CHINA), CONTROLLED BY CLASS EDITORI, FOR ENTRY INTO CHINA’S LARGEST B2B PLATFORM (CCIGMall).

Milan, 23 September 2014. The Cremonini Group, one of the main European operators in the production and distribution of food products internationally, has signed an agreement with Class Editori to enter into the capital of CCEC (Class China e-Commerce), becoming a strategic and operational partner. The company is the leading supplier of the Chinese CCIGMall platform for the Food & Beverage industry and the principal agent for fashion, accessories, design and luxury products.

CCIGMall is China’s largest B2B platform and is owned by Century Fortunet of the Century International Group. The initiative is supported by Bank of China, China Telecom, China Union Pay, CCPIT, the governmental agency for the development of international trade.

Madam Guo Hong, Chairperson of the Century International Group, and Paolo Panerai, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Class Editori had signed on June 11, in Beijing, a general cooperation contract (Class Editori is also directly the exclusive agent for the sale of advertising and the production of content) in front of the two prime ministers, Matteo Renzi and Li Keqiang, who witnessed the signing of the 10 most important contracts between Italian and Chinese companies.

Cremonini SpA acquires 5% of CCEC, controlled by Class Editori, and will contribute to the management of the partnership at operational level through its subsidiary Inalca Food & Beverage (IF & B Srl). The target of CCIGMall is suitable for the size of the Chinese market: at full speed with 3 million shops connected, up to 100 billion US Dollars in revenue, of which 60% in food & beverage.

"We are delighted to participate, together with Class Editori, in this extraordinary opportunity for the affirmation of Italian products in the largest market in the world", said Vincenzo Cremonini, Chief Executive Officer of the holding Cremonini Spa. "Inalca’s business model, which we have developed abroad, allows you to valorise not only our products, but also those of thousands of small and medium-sized Italian companies ,whose inadequate dimension prevents any autonomous distribution outside Italy, aggregating and distributing on the world market the best of Italian food & beverage".

"The professionalism, experience and extent of contracts for thousands of products selected by Cremonini adds a very high value to our contract of cooperation for this extraordinary initiative of a large Chinese group such as Century International, with the support of the country’s major institutions", added Paolo Panerai. "With Cremonini we will certainly enable Italian products, the first to enter the platform, to conquer significant market share, which will allow a rebalancing, through development, of trade between Italy and China, helping the Italian system to restart".

Cremonini, with over 9,000 employees, and a turnover in 2013 of 3.5 billion Euro, of which over 34 % made abroad, is one of the largest food groups in Europe and operates in three business areas: production, distribution and catering. The Group is the leader in Italy in the production of beef and processed meat (Inalca, Montana and Italia Alimentari) and the marketing and distribution of food products to the foodservice sector (MARR). It is the leader in Italy in railway station buffets, has a significant presence in the major Italian airports and motorway restaurants and is the first European operator in the management of onboard catering (Chef Express). Finally, it is present in commercial catering with the steakhouse chain branded Roadhouse Grill.

Class Editori, a publishing house leader in financial information, fashion, luxury goods and lifestyle, broadcasts  information through all the media channels , from newspapers to weeklies in Italian,  English, Chinese and Russian, as well as real-time information. It has a unique position in the Italian television system due to its bouquet composed of four channels and its leadership in Out-of-home TV, which includes channels present in the main Italian airports, on the undergrounds of Rome and Milan, in the metro carriages and buses of Bari, Rome, Milan, Padua and Siena, and the motorway network. Part of the expansion strategy in China is the agreement signed with Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government’s news agency, which foresees cooperation in a number of editorial projects, including the integrated multimedia system Italian Excellence.

Class Editori is listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 1998; the 2013 balance sheet was closed with a turnover of 84 million Euro.

CONTACT:

Luca Macario

Cremonini Press Office Manager

Luca.macario@cremonini.com – Tel.: +39 059 754627- Mobile: +39 3357478179

Gian Marco Jura

Class Editori - Head of Communications

Tel: + 39-0258219395 - Mobile: + 39-3346737093

e-mail: gmgiura@class.it