Worldwide Fishing Company (WOFCO) has acquired Domaio, Pontevedra, Spain-based seafood firm Fandicosta out of bankruptcy.
The transaction, rumored since 2023, was finalized 17 June, according to Faro de Vigo. It will make WOFCO, which amassed EUR 412 million (USD 441 million) in sales in 2023, the third-largest seafood company in Spain behind Nueva Pescanova and Grupo Profand. Fandiscosta had EUR 136 million (USD 145.6 million) in sales in 2022.
Founded in 1989, Fandicosta owns Casa Botas, Peixemar, Bonfrig, and a 50 percent share of Argentinean fishing firm Pesquera Cruz del Sur, as well as a marketing firm. It is a catcher and seller of frozen, chilled, and pre-cooked seafood products to foodservice outlets and food product manufacturers, selling mostly to European buyers, and it operates a processing facility in Moaña, Spain, which was rebuilt in 2016 after a fire at a cost of EUR 25 million (USD 26.8 million).
WOFCO, founded in 2016 and based in Vigo, Spain, has grown into an international seafood processor and trader, with operations in Holland, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, the U.S., Morocco, Vietnam, and China.
Fandicosta initiated a bankruptcy process in October 2023 as higher interest rates impacted its nearly EUR 100 million (USD 107 million) in debt. WOFCO will take on EUR 19.5 million (USD 20.9 million) in debt, while the banks with holdings in Fandicosta agreed to take a 60 percent reduction in the value of their shares, valued at a loss of EUR 78 million (USD 83.5 million). WOFCO agreed to retain 75 percent of Fandicosta’s employees, according to Atlántico. The newspaper reported the two sides repaired relations and got a deal done after WOFCO withdrew its initial takeover bid in January 2024.
“WOFCO plans to adapt and recondition the existing facilities … to make a large investment and launch a refrigeration and fish-processing facility,” the company previously said in a statement.
Separately, Vigo, Spain-based tuna specialist Atunlo, which also recently entered bankruptcy proceedings as it confronts more than EUR 160 million (USD 173 million) in debt, is facing potential liquidation.
Compañía Internacional de Pesca y Derivados (Inpesca), which owns 50 percent of Atunlo, has declared the company "dead" and is no longer supplying it with product per its previous contractual arrangement, according to Faro de Vigo.
While Atunlo has survived by obtaining new sources of supply from WOFCO and Atunsa, according to Atlántico, it is not receiving enough product to allow it to continue operating at full capacity. As a result, it has shuttered its Santoña and O Grove facilities, and made the decision in February 2024 to close its Cape Verde factory, which it inaugurated in 2015. The company will close the plant on Saturday, 22 June, and will lay off all 210 employees still working at the plant.
Atunlo continues to operate its Cambados and Vila Nova de Cerveira factories via a partnership with Marfrío.
But the odds of Atunlo facing dissolution have risen after it reported losing EUR 70 million (USD 75 million) for the year ending 31 March, which equates to more than half its share capital. And Comercial Pernas (Coper), which owns the the other half of Atunlo, has descended into pre-bankruptcy proceedings itself, Faro de Vigo reported on 20 June.
