Iceland-based Marel has entered into an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in Curio, a primary processing equipment provider for whitefish.
Acquiring Curio’s product portfolio of heading, filleting and skinning solutions supports Marel’s objective to be a full-line supplier of food processing solutions across the fish, meat and poultry industries.
Árni Oddur Thórdarson, chief executive of Marel, said, "We are super excited to join forces with Curio, an innovative provider of equipment for primary processing for the whitefish segment, bringing us closer to becoming a full-line provider in the global fish segment."
Marel and Curio have a history of working together to deliver full-line projects including overarching Innova software from Marel. In partnership with Marel, Curio will use Marel’s sales and service network to extend its global reach.
The transaction will be conducted in two phases; 40% at closing and the additional 10% on 1 January 2021. Curio’s founder Ellidi Hreinsson will stay with the company and Marel has an option to acquire the remaining 50% of shares in four years.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q4 2019.
