Abanca, the owner of Nueva Pescanova, would not be at a different point in the negotiations with Cooke due to "problems that arose during the financial evaluation of the company" by the North American seafood giant.
Towards the end of last week, El Confidencial reported a reduction in Cooke's original offer for Nueva Pescanova. However, WeAreAquaculture contacted Cooke, and the company explicitly denied this version of events.
The Spanish media quoted sources close to the negotiations as saying that the offer would have been reduced to EUR 50 million plus a capital injection of EUR 200 million. This, there would imply a significant reduction of the initial offer of EUR 150 million, in addition to the assumption of EUR 500 million in debts in exchange for 80% of the company. Nevertheless, it was not.
The Canadian giant explained to WeAreAquaculture in a communiqué that they did not finish the review. "Cooke has not completed its due diligence investigation of Nueva Pescanova S.L. nor has it delivered a revised offer to Abanca." After clarifying that they were speaking out because of the misinformation that was being caused, they also explained it was the last time. "Cooke will not be offering any further comment on the status of the transaction."
Therefore, the information to which the media pointed out El Confidencial was about Nueva Pescanova's financial statements were not as good in 2021 as in 2022. The earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) decreased by EUR 20 million in 2022, compared to EUR 80 million in 2021. In addition, the operating profits decreased from EUR 70 million in 2021 to EUR 40 million last year.
Cooke is a family-owned and managed company that has operated a sustainable aquaculture business in Canada for over 35 years. The Cooke family of companies has diversified operations in Europe. Among them are Scotland, Northeast Nutrition Scotland, Cooke Aquaculture Spain/Grupo Culmarex, and Bioriginal Europe/Asia in The Netherlands.
Nueva Pescanova is a leading Spanish multinational company in the seafood industry. Thus, they have a strong presence across the entire value chain, encompassing fish farming, processing, and distribution. In addition, they have operations in 80 countries, working with over 70 different species of fish and seafood.
