Cooke Inc, parent company of Cooke Aquaculture Inc of New Brunswick, Canada, has completed its acquisition of Australian Atlantic salmon and black tiger shrimp producer Tassal Group Limited.
Wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Cooke acquired all of the outstanding shares of Tassal for AUD 5.23 per share, equating to a total enterprise value of approximately AUD $1.7 billion.
This follows a Tassal shareholder vote held on 3 November 2022, with voting majorities that overwhelmingly approved the share scheme.
Final approval was ordered by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 8 November 2022.
With over 36 years’ experience, Tassal is Australia’s largest vertically integrated seafood producer and Blue AgTech business. Its footprint spans from southern Tasmania to the north of Queensland. It annually harvests 40,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon in five marine farming zones supported by four land-based freshwater hatcheries and four processing facilities, and also farms 5,500 tonnes of Australian black tiger shrimp from two hatcheries, three pond farms and processing facilities.
Additionally, it domestically and internationally distributes and processes salmon, shrimp and other seafood in fresh, smoked and frozen categories.
Tassal is recognised as a leading household seafood brand and also distributes products under the company’s brands include Tropic Co – The Aussie Prawn, De Costi Seafood, Superior Gold, and Tasmanian Smokehouse.
The Tassal purchase is Cooke’s first investment in Australia and the largest-ever for the family-owned seafood and nutritional products company since it first began in 1985 in New Brunswick.
“We are thrilled to be joining the Tasmanian aquaculture industry and look forward to welcoming Tassal’s 1,700 employees to the Cooke family of companies,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Inc. “Over the last few months, myself and members of our global management team have had the opportunity to visit Tassal’s operations and have been so impressed by the team’s dedication to what they do and their communities. We’re looking forward to working with Tassal’s employees and customers to ensure that we continue to produce high quality, sustainable seafood for the Australian market and beyond.”
Species farmed by Tasmanian producers include Atlantic salmon, oysters, mussels, abalone, seahorses and seaweeds. Marine farming is now one of the state’s major employers with thousands of Tasmanians working in the industry.
Australia’s National Aquaculture Strategy, in collaboration with state and territory governments, aims to double aquaculture production in Australian waters to an annual value of $2 billion by 2027.
“Producing healthy and nutritious seafood comes with great responsibility. Whether we are farming prawns on land or salmon in the sea, our commitment is to be a responsible business respecting our people, the environment and communities we operate within as we deliver our vision of sustainably feeding tomorrow which aligns perfectly with Cooke’s core purpose,” said Mark Ryan, CEO of Tassal. “We’re looking forward to becoming part of the Cooke family of companies and sharing the best of what our industry has to offer.”
Australian investment bank Kidder Williams acted as buy-side financial adviser for Cooke. Australian law firm Allens acted as legal counsel for Cooke.
The Cooke family of companies includes global aquaculture divisions including its wholly-owned subsidiary Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd, as well as seafood and wild fishery divisions under Cooke Seafood USA, Wanchese Fish Company, Omega Protein Corporation, Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, Northeast Nutrition Scotland, Cooke Aquaculture Spain/Grupo Culmarex, Bioriginal Europe/Asia BV in The Netherlands, Cooke Uruguay SA, Seajoy Seafood Corporation, one of the largest premium shrimp farms in Latin America, and Morubel NV, a leading shrimp processor in Western Europe.
Cooke has Atlantic salmon farming operations in Atlantic Canada, the United States, Chile, and Scotland and seabass and seabream farming operations in Spain.
