Danish fishfeed company BioMar has purchased Chinese firm Haiwei through its joint venture in China, giving the company greater access to the top end of the aquaculture market in China.
Haiwei was purchased three years ago by Tongwei Co., BioMar’s joint venture partner. Tongwei successfully completed a turnaround of the company and it is now a major supplier of fish feed for high-value aquaculture operations, including Japanese sea bass in southern China, according to a company press release.
“We are very pleased to have concluded this agreement on behalf of BioMar-Tongwei. Haiwei has a very good reputation among fish farmers and we will continue to build on the Haiwei brand and carry on with the company setup,” BioMar CEO Carlos Diaz said. “We are confident that BioMar can contribute to the further development of Haiwei and continue their success through process knowledge, R&D methodology, and continuous improvement of feed recipes.”
Diaz said the acquisition aligns with BioMar’s growth strategy, especially considering Haiwei’s location in the southern part of the country, where aquaculture is a major part of the economy.
“Since the announcement of the joint venture between BioMar Group and Tongwei Co. Ltd to establish a feed company in China, the shared project has had a very positive development,” Diaz said. “There is continuous collaboration with our partner and we are working to bring high performance feeds to the Chinese market.”
Haiwai is capable of producing about 60.000 metric tons (MT) of fish feed, according to the release. That will be added to BioMar’s growing production capacity in China, which will further expand with the opening of a new factory in Wuxi, near Shanghai, in the latter half of 2017. The new factory will give the company an additional capacity to produce an additional 50,000 MT of feed annually, with the possibility for expansion to 100,000 MT if the market grows.
“The acquisition is an important initiative, consistent with our growth strategy in core markets as well as within new species and geographies,” Diaz said. “In this regard, this is also an important step for our emerging markets division, which plays a significant role supporting the strategy, securing growth for BioMar and building up new markets, integrating acquisitions, and servicing new species.”
