Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh says the pending Del Monte Foods acquisition represents a “deeply personal” opportunity to reunify the global brand
Fresh Del Monte chairman and CEO Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh spoke during the group’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call this week, outlining how 2025 served as a ”pivotal year of focus and streamlining” for the company.
During the call, Abu-Ghazaleh detailed the strategic rationale behind the court-approved acquisition of select Del Monte Foods assets, and also previewed the company’s priorities for the year ahead.
Year of preparation
”Fiscal 2025 marked a clear inflection point for Fresh Del Monte,” he said. “It was not just a year of performance. It was a year of preparation.
”Our results this quarter underscore a fundamental shift in our approach for the past two years: we have moved from a broad-market strategy to a relentless focus on our core strengths.
”By streamlining our portfolio and divesting from non-core distractions, we’ve ensured that our best-performing categories receive the capital and focus they deserve,” the chairman and CEO explained.
”This strategic narrowing is supported by a culture of rigorous financial discipline and accountability. Rather than pursuing scale indiscriminately, we have prioritised operational efficiency and high-return investments.
”Together, those choices strengthened our balance sheet, expanded margins, and generated the cash flow needed to preserve flexibility and reinvest for long-term leadership,” he outlined.
“Those choices were deliberate. They were about focus. They were about discipline. And they were about ensuring that when the right moment arrived, we were ready to act from a position of strength. That moment is now.”
Acquisition latest
Abu-Ghazaleh turned to the ongoing process of acquiring select assets from California-based Del Monte Foods through a court-supervised bankruptcy process.
Earlier this month, the US Bankruptcy Court approved Fresh Del Monte as the purchaser of the global Del Monte brand, along with select core assets.
The company now expects the transaction to close before the end of the first quarter, subject to customary regulatory approvals, including HSR Anti-Trust clearance and remaining closing conditions.
”This decision is not about expansion for expansion’s sake,” he continued. ”It is about alignment.
”For nearly 40 years, the Del Monte brand has existed across separate platforms. Today, we have the opportunity to reunify that brand under a company with deep agricultural roots, global operating scale, and decades of experience managing complex food systems across geographies and categories.”
“Deeply personal” move
There is a strong sense internally that this ”feels like a reunion”, Abu-Ghazaleh enthused.
”For me, this moment is deeply personal. Bringing Del Monte back together has been a long-held conviction of mine, and it is coming to fruition on the thirtieth anniversary of when I acquired Fresh Del Monte in 1996.
”I truly believe that uniting fresh and shelf-stable food under a single strategy honours the Del Monte legacy while positioning the brand for continued relevance and growth,” he said.
”It allows us to show up more consistently for consumers and to build a stronger, more flexible platform focused on efficiency, innovation, and long-term value creation.”
Abu-Ghazaleh pointed out that the first priority is continuity, focusing on stability for customers, retailers, partners, and employees.
Post-closing, the acquired businesses will function as a dedicated unit, ensuring immediate operational continuity while Fresh Del Monte takes a measured approach to integrating capabilities.
Agility and customer focus
”By utilising a ‘light-touch’ integration strategy, the foods division will retain its autonomy to preserve its agility and customer focus,” he noted.
”We will serve as a growth accelerator, empowering the unit with our capital resources, supply chain scale, and logistics infrastructure.
”Our Foods division teams, both commercial and production across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East will work hand in hand with our Foods division in North America to expand and leverage on the capabilities of each other,” Abu-Ghazaleh explained.
Fresh Del Monte has spent decades operating at global scale across fresh and value-added categories, he commented, an experience that gives confidence not just in terms of completing the transaction, but also in managing what comes next.
”We see a clear opportunity to build a more unified platform that supports durable, long-term value creation.
”As we look ahead to 2026, our priorities remain clear: disciplined decision-making, thoughtful capital allocation, and execution anchored in our core strengths,” Abu-Ghazaleh added.
