High Liner Foods on Tuesday announced that it has made an unsolicited offer to acquire the Icelandic Group for EUR 340 million (USD 449.4 million).
Since August, Framtakssjóður Íslands (FSÍ) has been in negotiations with the owners of the Icelandic Group to purchase the assets of one of Europe’s largest seafood suppliers, and, according to High Liner, the owners have refused to engage in talks with other parties in regards to Icelandic until 8 January.
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia-based High Liner is one of North America’s largest seafood suppliers, ranking seventh on SeaFood Business magazine’s Top 25 North American seafood suppliers list, with 2009 sales of USD 593 million. Icelandic USA placed 20th, with 2009 sales of USD 266 million.
“The addition of the Icelandic line of products to our existing line of food service products would make High Liner the leader in the sale of valued-added seafood to the U.S. foodservice market and an even stronger partner for our customers,” said High Liner President and CEO Henry Demone.
High Liner’s EUR 340 million bid for Icelandic includes EUR 170 million in debt and EUR 170 million in equity interest. If acquired, High Liner would integrate Icelandic’s U.S. operation into its U.S. division and would assess strategic options for the non-U.S. assets.
High Liner added that the Icelandic brand and the company’s trading divisions may need to be excluded from the deal. If so, High Liner’s proposal would include entering into a long-term agreement to continue to use the Icelandic brand for value-added products. High Liner clarified that it’s prepared to provide sales and marketing support to any of the company’s Iceland-based subsidiaries.
In addition to the United States, Icelandic operates processing plants and sales and marketing offices in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
