Sea Harvest has struck deals for two of its South Africa-based seafood peers.
In a stock-exchange filing, Sea Harvest said it would buy 100% of canned-fish, fish-oil and fish-meal business of West Point Fishing.
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The company also plans to acquire a 63% stake in abalone supplier Aqunion.
Sea Harvest is buying both assets with a mix of cash and shares from Terrasan, a South African investment group that centres its portfolio on fishing, aquaculture and property. In total, the deal is worth R964.8m ($50.7m).
West Point Fishing operates a fishing fleet that catches sardines and anchovies. It produces fish oil and fish meal – both largely for export – as well as canned fish, which it sells domestically under the Saldanha brand.
While West Point Fishing was founded in 1905, Aqunion is much younger. Set up in 1994, the vertically-integrated abalone business has two farms and a processing facility. The company sells dried and canned abalone, or sea snails, under its namesake brand in east Asia.
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By GlobalDataSea Harvest said the deals represented “material progress” in its ambition to become “a leading Black-owned, responsible and diversified food and fishing business”.
In seafood, the group’s fishes Cape hake in South Africa and prawns in Australia. The company processes the catch into seafood. It also farms and markets abalone and the marketing of abalone.
Sea Harvest’s portfolio also includes dairy group Ladismith Cheese and packaged-foods business BM Foods.
In the filing, Sea Harvest said: “Sea Harvest is confident that the acquisition will create value by diversifying into wild-caught pelagic species and their processed products.”
The company said the deal “will enable Sea Harvest to add value to its small pilchards and anchovy pelagic quota through forward integration into canning and fishmeal and fish oil production.”
It added: “Global demand for fishing products continues to grow as a result of continued growth in aquaculture and consumer demand for healthier products.”
