The world's largest olive oil maker, Spain's Deoleo, has hired investment bank Lazard to pursue strategic options, including a possible sale, it said Monday in a statement to the stock market regulator.

Adverse weather conditions in Spain have led to a drop in olive oil production in the country, which accounts for about 40% of global output.

The company, whose main shareholder is investment fund CVC, said two weeks ago that it had gone into the red in the first half of this year, after posting a small profit a year earlier.

Deoleo, with brands such as Bertolli and Carbonell, has denied being in talks with UAE's IFFCO, as recently reported by El Economista newspaper.

(Report by Inti Landauro; edited in Spanish by José Muñoz)