Elian Secures €40M COFIDES Investment to Expand Barcelona Plant-Based Protein Facility
Spanish plant-based protein producer Elian has received a €40 million (US$45.66M) investment from Spain's state-owned COFIDES, giving the institution a 13.8% minority stake, as the company advances a broader €300 million expansion of its soy processing hub at the Port of Barcelona targeting completion in early 2028.
SPAIN – Elian, a developer of plant-based protein ingredients, has secured a €40 million (US$45.66M) investment from the Spanish Development Financing Company (COFIDES), with the state-owned institution taking a minority stake as Elian scales up operations at its integrated facility at the Port of Barcelona, according to a report published on 23 September 2026 by Milling Middle East & Africa.
The transaction is structured through Spain's Co-investment Fund (FOCO), a COFIDES-managed instrument that supports strategic projects alongside foreign co-investors. Elian's parent company, Viserion International, is acting as the co-investor. According to Spanish media reports cited by the publication, the investment gives COFIDES a 13.8% stake in Elian.
The Barcelona facility sits at the centre of a much larger capital programme. Elian is investing more than €300 million (US$342.4M) in the site, which is being developed as an integrated production hub for plant-based protein and other oilseed-derived products. The company acquired the underlying soybean crushing plant from Cargill in 2024 and announced an expansion of the project in late 2025. That expansion is expected to be completed in early 2028.
Once finished, the expanded facility will cover approximately 90,000 square metres and add more than 100,000 tonnes per year of production capacity for protein derivatives destined for human food and animal feed applications, on top of an existing annual capacity of around 770,000 tonnes.
The source describes the facility as employing clean-label oilseed processing technology and operating as "the world's first agro-industrial plant with an end-to-end hydrocarbon-free extraction process from raw bean to finished ingredient." This characterisation originates from Elian's own description of its technology and has not been independently verified.
Additional public-sector support for the project comes from ACCIÓ, Catalonia's business competitiveness agency, which has contributed €2.25 million (US$2.57M) through its high-impact business projects programme.
COFIDES cited Elian's 2025 revenue of €400 million (US$456.59M) and a workforce of about 90 people in its assessment of the company. Elian says its integrated facility is designed to strengthen European access to locally processed protein ingredients and reduce reliance on supplies from distant markets, including the United States, China and South America.
COFIDES noted a broader European supply-chain concern underpinning the investment rationale: 94% of the soy used for animal feed in the European Union is currently imported. The EU has set a target to increase the share of domestically produced oilseed and protein crops used for feed from 25.8% in 2025 to 35% by 2035.
On the agricultural side, Elian is also promoting non-GMO soybean cultivation in the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Aragon, targeting 3,000 hectares during 2026.
Prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by the editorial team.
