More than 50 potential suitors have been contacted by a Chilean investment bank to purchase the salmon operation of Chilean salmon farmer Friosur, as its controlling stakeholder looks to focus on extractive fishing.
According to a report in Chilean national newspaper El Mercurio, Chilean investment bank LarrainVial has been tapped to handle the sale of the salmon unit, which produces around 20,000 tons of salmon annually.
The sale could close in the first months of 2018, and is controlled by Josè Luis del Rìo Goudie and family members, through their Inder investment group.
According to the report, there is interest from both local and foreign investors in acquiring the operation, and estimates for the sale for the “boutique” firm hover around USD 200 million (EUR 163 million). The firm’s location near the Chacabuco port in Southern Chile and the good sanitary conditions in the area are thought to heighten its value.
Annually the firm has around USD 100 million (EUR 81.5 million) in sales, the report said, and it has a new USD 20 million (EUR 16.3 million) plant approved that the new owner could develop. The firm currently has 40 salmon concessions, and operates 12 fisheries.
The interest in the firm comes as Chile’s salmon sector has seen better prices and a better value on the local market. In 2017, the value of Chilean salmon companies listed on the Santiago stock exchange increased 39.88 percent in value.
The Los Del Rio family wants to focus its efforts on Friosur’s southern hake extraction, even though the capital raised from the sale could go to other business areas of the family’s investment holding, the report added.
