Lions Gate Lighting Corp. on Thursday announced it entered into an agreement to acquire 33 percent of tuna farming company Baja Aquafarms.
The agreement is contingent upon the issuance of Baja shares to Lions Gate no later than 30 August and includes an option to acquire the remaining 67 percent of Baja by 15 September. Lions Gate will pay USD 8 million (EUR 6 million) for the original shares, with an additional USD 10 million (EUR 7.7 million) if the remaining shares are also acquired.
Baja is a private Mexican company that owns and operates facilities in Baja California, Mexico. The company fishes for and farms Pacific Northern bluefin tuna, which it sells primarily to Japan.
Lions Gate plans to combine and transfer knowledge between Baja and its newly acquired subsidiary Kali Tuna, of Croatia, which will double the company’s operations. Additionally, Lions Gate will use Baja to expand and develop markets for bluefin tuna in the United States and Canada.
“One of the company’s goals is to produce and distribute high-quality bluefin tuna in a sustainable manner. The Mexican government supports our goals in preserving sustainable resources as does the Croatian government,” said Oli Steindorsson, Lions Gate CEO. “I would like to thank the Croatian government for all its current and past support and look forward to developing common goals with the Mexican government. The combined goals of the Mexican operation and the Croatian operation will be to continue to seek the creation of self sustaining farming environments."
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