Kılıç Deniz has acquired Agromey, further growing what was already the largest seafood company in Türkiye.
Sinan Kızıltan, the vice president of Bodrum, Muğla, Türkiye-based Kılıç, said the transaction will give the company full control of Agromey – a vertically integrated seafood company based in Torbalı, İzmir, Türkiye.
In 2023, Agromey hauled in between USD 70 million and USD 80 million (EUR 64 million and EUR 73.1 million) in sales, making it the third-largest bass and bream producer in the country behind Kılıç and Gümüşdoğa Fish. Kılıç recorded USD 280 million (EUR 256 million) in exports in 2023, and the combined company will have over USD 350 million (EUR 320 million) in exports and USD 500 million (EUR 458 million) in total sales.
“It’s a big deal,” Kızıltan told SeafoodSource at the 2024 Seafood Expo North America on 10 March.
Kızıltan said Agromey’s owner was 95 years old and made the decision to sell in recent weeks, with the deal – signed 7 March – for 100 percent ownership of the company passing to Kılıç.
Kızıltan said Agromey’s appeal was heightened by its vertical integration, which entails aquaculture operations with production licenses for 32,000 metric tons (MT), mostly for sea bass and sea bream, as well as a hatchery, aquafeed production, and processing, packaging, and export operations and facilities. For the time being, Agromey will continue to be operated independently.
“We will try to make it more efficient and make a restructuring to increase profitability,” he said.
Kızıltan said the Turkish seafood industry is undergoing a period of consolidation as the country has entered a phase of stability and business has evened out post-Covid. The sector is also benefitting from the Turkish government’s 2018 decision to allow domestic, sea-grown steelhead trout to be sold as “Turkish salmon.”
Kılıç now grows 9,000 MT annually in lakes and in the Black Sea – enough to enable year-round sales.
“It's a very high-quality fish,” Kızıltan said. “It is harvested in April, May, and June, just three months a year, but we freeze it and can now sell it throughout the year.”
Kılıç's current top market for its Turkish salmon is Russia, followed by Japan, but it’s becoming more popular in a number of global markets, according to Kızıltan.
The company is now also conducting value addition to its Turkish salmon, including filleting and smoking, Kızıltan said.
Kılıç operates trout-farming facilities in Albania, has aquafeed production in Mauritania, and operates an aquaculture facility in the Dominican Republic. In April 2021, Kılıç received a EUR 80 million (then USD 95.5 million) syndicated lending facility from European development banks FMO and Proparca. It branched into meagre production in 2017.
Kılıç's purchase of Agromey was the second major deal in Türkiye's seafood industry in as many months. In February, Kyokuyo acquired Turkish seafood processor Kocaman Su Ürünleri İhracat ve İthalat Ticaret, based in Bandÿrma, Balÿkesir, Türkiye.
