Icelandic convenience food company Bakkavor has said it has sold all of its fishing operations and is looking for investment opportunities in food production in Europe.
Bakkavor’s fishing business subsidiaries in Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland and Sweden were sold as a single unit to Fram Foods, a company mostly owned by employees of those units, for IKr3.44bn (US$45.8m), according to Bakkavor chairman Agust Gudmundsson.
Bakkavor is aiming to become a major player in the chilled prepared food sector, reported Reuters. The company has expanded rapidly in the UK, which accounted for 80% of company turnover last year, by focusing on fresh convenience foods such as dips, dressings and sauces as well as ready own-label meals and snacks for food retailers.
“We’re selling all our subsidiaries in the fishing industry to focus entirely on fresh convenience food,” Gudmundsson told Reuters. “It just so happens that they are all outside the United Kingdom.”
