Captain Fresh completes acquisition of Frime to expand tuna presence in Europe

India-based seafood company Captain Fresh has completed its acquisition of Spanish tuna processor Frime, in a move the company says strengthens its position across several key seafood categories.

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in La Roca near Barcelona, Frime specialises in premium yellowfin tuna products and distributes to retail and foodservice customers in 33 countries. According to the company, it generates more than €180m in annual revenue and holds more than 20% of the European market for yellowfin tuna.

The acquisition gives Captain Fresh a major processing base in Europe. Frime operates seven factories across four production sites, covering more than 21,000 square metres and running 20 production lines. Its facilities have an annual capacity of about 15,000 tonnes of frozen tuna, 9,000 tonnes of fresh product and 3,800 tonnes of semi-preserved goods.

Utham Gowda, founder and group chief executive of Captain Fresh, said the deal adds tuna as a third core category for the business alongside crustaceans and salmon.

“We have built a strong market presence in crustaceans through CenSea, Ocean Garden, Senecrus, and Ocean Edge, and in salmon through Koral. Tuna ranks as the next most significant commercial category after crustaceans and salmon, with broad demand across retail and foodservice channels. With Frime, we enter tuna in a leadership position consistent with our approach in other categories,” he said.

Gowda added that combining the three product categories would allow Captain Fresh to expand its distribution network across different regions.

“What makes this more powerful is the strategic flywheel it creates. Bringing the three largest categories on one platform transforms our go-to-market strategy," Gowda stated.

"We can scale Frime’s tuna through our US network while simultaneously introducing our crustacean (shrimp, lobsters) and salmon portfolio deeper into Southern Europe. This multiplies customer share without incremental infrastructure, speeds up product innovation, and unlocks synergies across the Captain Fresh group ecosystem,” he explained.

Frime’s chief executive, Pablo Múgica, said joining the group would allow the Spanish company to expand its international reach.

“Frime has spent nearly five decades building a legacy in premium tuna and an infrastructure designed for uncompromising quality and sustainability. Integrating with Captain Fresh gives us a clear path to global reach and a technology backbone to go further. It brings complementary strengths, opening accelerated expansion opportunities for our tuna in the United States, while enabling us to cross-distribute Captain Fresh’s extensive portfolio across our established European retail network,” Múgica said.

The existing Frime leadership team, including chairman Salvador Ramon Mateo and Múgica, will remain in their roles within the Captain Fresh group.

Captain Fresh, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Bengaluru, operates a portfolio of seafood brands including CenSea, Koral, Senecrus, Ocean Edge and Ocean Garden. The company says it supplies around 1,300 customers across more than 30 countries and sources seafood from more than 650 suppliers worldwide.