Empresas Agrosuper, the parent company of Chile’s largest salmon-farming firm AquaChile, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to purchase 100 percent of the salmon-farming interests of industrial fishing and aquaculture firm Blumar.
The MoU, which establishes the terms and conditions for Agrosuper to purchase Blumar’s salmon-farming assets, was approved by an extraordinary board meeting held 24 August, Blumar reported to Chile’s securities regulatory body CMF on 4 November.
The agreement stipulates an enterprise value of USD 540 million (EUR 481 million) for Salmones Blumar on a cash-free and debt-free basis. Of the total, USD 40 million (EUR 35.6 million) is to be retained by the buyer and paid to Blumar once certain productive growth benchmarks are met.
Agrosuper’s move comes as Blumar has been struggling with its salmon business.
For the first six months of 2026, its aquaculture division brought in top-line revenues of USD 221 million (EUR 197 million) – well over half of the company’s total revenues of USD 407 million (EUR 363 million). However, high costs led to a bottom-line profit of USD 5.5 million (EUR 4.9 million) for its aquaculture business – just 13 percent of the firm’s total profits of USD 40.4 million (EUR 36 million) and dwarfed by the fishing division’s net profit of USD 34.9 million (EUR 31.1 million).
According to the MoU, Blumar will negotiate exclusively with Agrosuper for the sale of its salmon business for 60 calendar days from the opening of the due diligence process to review financial, accounting, legal, tax, regulatory, labor, environmental, health, and operational information from Salmones Blumar. The exclusivity can be renewed for an additional 30 days if Agrosuper expresses interest in continuing with the transaction under the agreed terms, Blumar CEO Gerardo Balbontín said in a statement to CMF.
Given the nature of the transaction, Agrosuper and Blumar have now entered into a "clean team" agreement to govern the interactions and information exchange between the two parties, in which competitors can share sensitive information without violating antitrust and other germane competition regulations.
Closing of the deal will be subject to the authorization, approval, or non-objection of the competent authorities, including antitrust regulators, in Chile or abroad, as well as the internal corporate approvals of each party and other conditions. Within those corporate authorizations, transaction approval will be addressed at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders.
In a separate filing with the CMF, Agrosuper CEO José Guzmán noted that at this time, it is not possible to reasonably quantify the effects that the transaction might have on company results, as there is still no certainty regarding the deal’s eventual completion.
“We believe that the information contained herein should have positive economic effects for the company in the future, though these are not yet quantifiable,” Balbontín similarly said for Blumar’s part.
Both companies pledged to keep CMF duly informed of any significant developments related to the deal, in accordance with applicable regulations.
Salmones Blumar farms Atlantic salmon across the Los Lagos and Magallanes regions in the south of Chile, including its subsidiary operations in Magallanes, formerly known as BluRiver, utilizing modern aquaculture infrastructure and abiding by animal welfare and environmental standards with certifications including Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices credentials.
It sold 63,400 metric tons (MT) whole fish equivalent of salmon for the full year 2025.
If the deal goes through, the combined annual production of both salmon-farming groups could reach around 350,000 MT.
