The first quarter of 2022 has left us with a remarkable investment in the aquaculture, seafood, fisheries, and aquatech sectors. If the trend follows this course, we can expect a more promising scenario keeping in mind the deals sorted in 2019 and 2020.
Last month, Cargill acquired 24.5% of Chilean salmon producer Multi X and reaffirmed the company's commitment to Chile. This has been the first big inclusion for the group into the downstream seafood supply. Also will give Chilean salmon more visibility and access to the US market.
On the other hand, the battle still unfinished for the acquisition of NTS ASA can leave us with more surprises. The latest news consisted of Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) not being able to complete the acquisition of SalmoNor as planned. Consequently, the NRS board decided to file a lawsuit against NTS claiming damages for breach of contract.
Austral Fisheries, half owned by Japanese seafood giant Maruha Nichiro, acquired seafood processor Brisbane-based seafood processor and wholesaler, Moreton Bay Seafoods. The deal will allow the company to expand trading with East Coast suppliers.
Also, Maruha acquired nine Alaska pollock fishing vessels as well as Canada-based Cooke's Northern Victor processing facility. It also invested in US-based frozen startup Happi Foodi and invested in Japanese meal-kit delivery service company Nosh during the quarter.
Finally, another remarkable deal of the 2022 first quarter was the purchase of Kefalonia Fisheries by Profand. With this, the Spanish company reinforced not only its international expansion but also its vertical integration into aquaculture species.
Furthermore, Profand acquired rival Caladero for €87.5 million ($106.4 million) and had earlier deals with companies such as US supplier Stavis Seafoods.
