Icelandic Group is to sell its Spanish subsidiary, Icelandic Iberica, to Solo Seafood EHF. The company´s primary brand, Icelandic Seafood, is not included in the sale.
Solo seafood is owned by established Icelandic seafood companies that are among Icelandic Iberica’s main suppliers. These companies, which include Fisk-Seafood, Jakob Valgeir and Nesfiskur, have supplied seafood to restaurants in Southern Europe, via Icelandic Iberica, for a number of years.
The buyers aim to further promote sales and marketing of Icelandic seafood under the “Icelandic Seafood” brand in Southern Europe.
In addition to the purchase agreement, Icelandic and Solo have signed a brand licensing agreement securing Solo seafood exclusive utilization rights of the “Icelandic Seafood” brand in Southern Europe.
Hjorleifur Asgeirsson, who has been Icelandic Iberica’s CEO for the past 20 years, will remain in his role post-acquisition.
Icelandic Group’s board announced the launch of the sales process for Icelandic Iberica last spring, which saw multiple entities expressing an interest in the company, but resulted in Icelandic entering into exclusive discussions with Solo.
The purchase agreement is subject to approval from The Central Bank of Iceland and the Spanish Competition Authorities.
Islandsbanki Corporate Finance acted as the advisor to Icelandic while KVIKA Corporate Finance represented Solo.
Herdis Drofn Fjeldsted, chairman of Icelandic Group’s Board and CEO of the Enterprise Investment Fund, said, “We are pleased with the result and believe that ownership by Icelandic producers provides an opportunity to further increase the value of seafood originating from Iceland sold under our established ´Icelandic Seafood´ brand.”
