Canadian seafood group Cooke Inc has entered into a binding purchase agreement to acquire Slade Gorton, one of the United States largest distributors, importers, and manufacturers of fresh and frozen seafood.
Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Slade Gorton’s history in the seafood industry spans over 95 years. Thomas Slade Gorton Jr began as a fisherman’s apprentice aboard schooners fishing on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada and founded the company in 1928. His son, Michael Gorton Sr, led the company for over 50 years.
The company will continue to be led by fifth generation family members Kim Gorton (CEO) and her brother Mike Gorton Jr (EVP – Business Development), who will both remain in their roles and continue to be invested in the ongoing growth and success of the business.
“Over nearly a century, Slade Gorton has built a robust and resilient world class supply chain in support of our family’s passion for making sustainable seafood accessible to everyone. As the world has evolved over the past several years, it became clear that to accelerate our mission and impact, it made sense to join forces with a diverse, vertically integrated company run by people who share our family values and vision for reshaping the consumer’s experience with seafood. There could be no better fit than Glenn Cooke and the incredible global company his team is building. We are excited to join forces with the Cooke family of companies to take the Gorton family’s legacy forward,” Kim Gorton said.
Slade Gorton currently offers more than 800 premium seafood products and maintains long-standing partnerships with hundreds of leading North American foodservice and retail customers.
“Cooke and Slade Gorton share a passion for ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy delicious, nutritious and sustainable seafood whether dining at home or in a restaurant,” Cooke Inc CEO Glenn Cooke said. “We will build on the expertise, innovation and deep commitment to its customers’ success that Slade Gorton is so well-respected for. Working together with the True North Seafood sales team and leveraging Cooke’s global infrastructure and reach, we will help support our customers in increasing consumption of seafood in North America.”
With 4,000 employees and distribution locations coast-to-coast across the US, Cooke offers a fully vertically integrated seafood harvesting, processing, sales and distribution network to provide fresh and frozen seafood to wholesale and retail customers.
The closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the coming weeks and the terms have not been disclosed as both companies are private, family-owned businesses.
