Pontevedra, Spain-based seafood company Nueva Pescanova will acquire Pesquera Veraz, a subsidiary of Mar del Plata, Argentina-headquartered Grupo Veraz, according to Spanish newspaper Faro del Vigo.
A company spokesperson did not return a request from SeafoodSource for comment on the report, but if true, the purchase marks Nueva Pescanova’s first acquisition in more than a decade, during which time it entered and emerged from bankruptcy.
Pesquera Veraz operates nine fishing vessels, three processing plants, and a canning plant, and has a specialization in fishing and processing hake and Argentine red shrimp. In 2019, the last year for which it has an available public report of its activities, Pesquera Veraz produced 32,000 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish, and has 17,000 MT of at-sea processing capacity and an additional 22,100 MT of processing capacity at its facilities in Mar del Plata, Rawson, and Puerto Deseado.
The move comes two years after Galician bank Abanca took a majority stake in Nueva Pescanova and declared it would make changes at the vertically integrated seafood firm to improve profitability.
According to Faro del Vigo, Nueva Pescanova is negotiating financing for the Pesquera Veraz deal with Rabobank, and plans to route the transaction through Pescanova USA, the company’s U.S. subsidiary, through which most of Nueva Pescanova’s current sales of hake and Argentine red shrimp are routed.
As FARO published in its 15 July edition, gaining size is one of Nueva Pescanova's objectives, especially with a view to increasing profits. Currently, the group has assets with a value of more than EUR 1 billion (USD 1.01 billion), but which offer meager results, as reflected in the 2021 fiscal year, which includes a net profit of EUR 7 million (USD 7.1 million). Argentina was already listed then as one of the plausible markets in which to grow.
Nueva Pescanova already has operations in Argentina through its subsidiary Argenova, which operates 16 fishing vessels in Puerto Deseado, a dozen of which catch Argentine red shrimp, as well as a processing plant and cold storage facility.
Nueva Pescanova reported EUR 1.08 billion (USD 1.12 billion) in sales in 2021, a 22.4 percent year-over-year increase. It had an EBITDA of EUR 80 million (USD 83 million) in 2021, more than double the EUR 39.5 million (USD 41.1 million) it earned in 2020. However, its net profit reached just EUR 7 million (USD 7.1 million) in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Nueva Pescanova
