Maruha Nichiro announced it acquired a 50 percent stake in Australian fishing company, Austral Fisheries, from Pescanova.
The deal was completed for an undisclosed amount and makes Maruha Nichiro Seafoods one of two shareholders in the group, with Kailis Group owning the other 50 percent of Austral.
The move is part of Maruha Nichiro’s mid-term business plan to consolidate its business fundamentals and aiming to expand its business along with its next globalization strategy in 2014-2016, the company said.
Austral owns more than 70 percent of total fishing quota of Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish in Australian EEZ and involves shrimp & prawn fishery in Northern Australia and fisheries in the Indian Ocean.
“The purpose of the investment involves enhancing the group's key measures of access toward marine products resources. By adding AF's fishing permit of Patagonian toothfish to the existing permit Maruha Nichiro Group owns, the total permit will come out to be around 11 percent of global catch limit,” the company said.
Headquartered in Perth, Australia, Austral owns two long-liner vessels, 1 trawl vessels and 10 shrimp vessels.
The Patagonian toothfish fishing ground where Austral is permitted to operate is the management area strictly controlled by the Australian Government and CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources), and consequently the fishery is certified its sustainability by an international authority. AF's shrimp and prawn fishery, which compose close to 40 percent of its total revenue, is also certified by the same authority.
