Brazil’s largest beef and poultry firm, JBS, and Japanese seafood company Nissui are searching for opportunities to invest in the Chilean salmon-farming industry.
JBS has held talks with salmon-farming firms Ventisqueros and Australis in the past, but no deals have arisen yet, while Nissui has evaluated purchasing the assets of Yadrán, local paper Diario Financiero reported.
JBS, which is also Brazil’s second-largest pork producer, already has a presence in the global seafood industry; it purchased Australia’s Huon Aquaculture for more than USD 400 million (EUR 343 million) in 2021. At the time of that purchase, JBS CEO Gilberto Tomazoni said the firm would seek to become one of the world's largest salmon producers.
“We will repeat what we did previously with poultry, pork, and value-added products to further expand our portfolio,” he said.
In an attempt to achieve that goal, the São Paulo, Brazil-based firm was reportedly one of the interested bidders when Ventisqueros’ parent company, German holding company Schörghuber Group, tested the waters of selling the salmon-farming firm in 2023. However, the German firm decided to pull the firm off the market following first-round talks.
Since then, Schörghuber has ruled out any consideration of a sale, emphasizing that it will take advantage of the current momentum of the global industry to continue profitable growth.
With Ventisqueros off the market, JBS turned elsewhere and has reportedly also evaluated the option of investing in Australis, which is owned by Chinese company Joyvio. Currently in a legal battle with former Australis owner Isidoro Quiroga over the purchase price the Chinese firm paid for Australis, Joyvio hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to weigh the possibility of an international partner purchasing part of the firm.
However, that process has not progressed beyond its preliminary stages.
Nissui, for its part, also already has a presence in Chile with its 1988 purchase of Salmones Antarctica, which has operations between southern Chile’s Biobío and Aysén regions and a processing plant on the island of Chiloé.
In recent investor presentations, Nissui has indicated that it wants to continue expanding its aquaculture business, focusing on strengthening stocking and grow-out segments. The firm has said it is actively investing in expansion abroad, which is progressing as planned.
Salmones Antartica has been negotiating to buy some concessions from Yadrán to take advantage of the latter company’s strategic locations and Atlantic salmon production, which would complement Antarctica's production of mostly rainbow trout, sources confirmed to Diario Financiero.
Chile’s salmon industry has traditionally attracted investment from different countries.
In 2022, U.S. agricultural giant Cargill, a major aquafeed producer, purchased 24.5 percent of the shares of Chilean salmon farmer Multiexport, while Japan’s Mitsui upped its stake in Multiexport to also reach 24.5 percent ownership. Norwegian salmon-farming giant Mowi operates in the country under a local subsidiary, as does fellow salmon-farming firm Cermaq, which in turn is fully owned by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation.
Another global aquaculture player, Canada-headquartered Cooke, also has operations in Chile, but it has suffered legal issues in the South American nation. It has said it may look to turn to international arbitration for what it claims is a breach of free trade agreements.
