The new company that will result from the merger, is expected to begin operating within six months. (Photo: Itata/El Golfo/FIS)

Two seafood companies merge operations

CHILE
Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 00:00 (GMT + 9)

The companies Pesquera Itata S.A. and Pesquera El Golfo have signed an agreement to merge all their operations and to create a new firm.

The company is expected to begin operating within six months and is estimated to generate revenues of USD 400 million annually.

According to preliminary valuations performed by financial advisors from both companies, the participation of Pesquera Itata would be 54.24 per cent, leaving El Golfo with 45.76 per cent.

Information delivered to the Superintendency of Values and Insurance of Chile (SVS), stated that the decision to merge the two firms is due to "the new scenario caused by the reduction in mackerel quotas, which is expected to last for numerous years, the current regulatory uncertainty and a strategic decision by both companies to promote their businesses in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors."

For his part, the president of El Golfo, Jaime Santa Cruz, said the future looks promising.

"The agreement which we have reached will allow us to face the future with great optimism, for both the extractive and aquaculture sectors, in which we operate very similarly and is complementary," said the businessman.

According to Sergio Sarquis, president of Pesquera Itata, this decision was taken "in the current context of the reduced extraction quotas, regulatory uncertainty and the significant synergies that will arise from the merger of two companies that have very similar business cultures," reports the newspaper La Tercera.

Currently, Pesquera Itata operates a fleet of purse seiners, a fish meal plant in Region III, as well as two fish meal plants and a frozen mackerel factory in Region VIII.

Furthermore, in the aquaculture sector, the company began cultivating and processing salmon in Region XI in 2006, with the aim of harvesting mussels in the area of Chiloé.

Meanwhile, El Golfo has a purse seiner and trawler fleet, a fish meal plant in Talcahuano and another in Corral, as well as two fish processing plants for human consumption in Region VIII.

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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