Chilean salmon farmers Blumar and Multiexport have signed the final documents to launch a joint venture under which a USD 40 million (EUR 36.2 million) processing plant will be built in the southern city of Punta Arenas, both companies said in separate statements to the financial market.
In December 2018, the companies announced to the financial regulator CMF that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to form the joint venture to build the plant. The entity was named Cameron S.A. at that time but the parties have since changed the name to Entrevientos S.A.
The 8,700-square-meter plant will have a capacity to handle 40,000 tons of salmon and is expected to create about 300 jobs, local press reported.
Earlier this year, the owners of the Santiago-based Blumar canceled a proposed sale of the company due to disagreement between the two major ownership groups – the Las Urbinas Group and the Sarquis Group.
The proposed sale was initiated by the Las Urbinas Group moving to divest from the aquaculture sector in April 2019. The exit agreement between the controlling parties mandated all privately-held shares of the company be put up for sale. However, the parties did not reach a consensus on the parameters of the sale process.
Blumar has been extending its reach and production as Chile’s salmon industry goes through consolidation. The company purchased Chilean coho producer Salmones Ice Val for USD 51 million (EUR 46.2 million) in January 2019, and it also increased its share of a fishmeal and oil processor in October 2018.
For its part, in September Puerto Montt-based Multiexport obtained the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, making it the first Chilean salmon producer to attain such certification after a two-year group audit process. This made Multiexport four-star eligible, meaning its products can originate from BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries, and feed mills, according to the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA).
It had previously announced it would end its smolt production in fresh water lakes in the south of Chile by 2020, citing sustainability concerns surrounding these operations.
