Private investment firm Bregal Partners is looking to sell its share of Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based pollock fishing company American Seafoods Group.
The group, which operates under the Bregal Investments umbrella, has invested more than USD 12.5 billion (EUR 11.1 million) into investments in the consumer, food, multi-unit, and energy services industries since 2002. It invested in American Seafoods Group in 2015, along with Clackamas, Oregon, U.S.A.-based Pacific Seafood Group, former Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski and former Icicle Seafoods CEO Amy Humphreys, as part of a deleveraging recapitalization of the company.
“American Seafoods [has] announced that they are entering the market looking for new investors, starting now. Their largest shareholder, Bregal, would like to monetize their investment, on schedule, after about five years,” American Seafoods said in a press release. “The company is running a process that will play out very typically. Investment bankers have been hired to help identify and evaluate investors.”
American Seafoods CEO Mikel Durham said she expects the process to run through the spring and summer “with a likely outcome in fall of this year.”
“American Seafoods is a great company – we have a leadership position in one of the most on-trend segments of clean protein and we are composed of the most passionate, talented and frankly, brave individuals I know,” Durham said. “As we kick off a process to solicit interest from new investors, I am honored to represent its proud heritage and tell the story of our exciting future.“
Jason Brantley, a senior vice president and senior relationship manager-global commercial banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., specializing in financing the commercial fishing and seafood industry, said Bregal has timed the market well.
“I think the market Is good right now,” he told SeafoodSource. “Pollock prices have improved over the last year and interest rates are still near historical lows.”
Brantley said he was unable to speculate on what a buyer might pay but said the company won’t come cheap.
“There could be interest from existing seafood industry participants both in the U.S. and abroad, all the way to another private equity firm. It is a big bite for most folks and it would not surprise me if the buyer ends up being a partnership of some kind,” he said.
The company has turned around its operations since its previous issues with debt and is well-managed, Brantley said.
“I have not heard a negative word about Mikel and the management team at American. Bregal has some very smart people and Scott and his team have a lot of experience in the seafood industry,” he said.
Bregal’s decision to sell comes at a fairly typical exit point for a private equity firm investment, which usually comes within four to seven years, according to Brantley.
The firm still owns Blue Harvest Fisheries, a scallop-focused firm based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
