Thai Union Frozen PCL is set to become one of the world''s largest canned tuna companies after announcing it will buy French-based canned seafood business MW Brands in a deal worth €680 million ($883.7 million).
Thailand's largest canned and frozen seafood processor and exporter will purchase MW Brands from US-based Trilantic Partners, formerly the private equity arm of the now-defunct Lehman Brothers.
MW Brands posted sales of €448 million ($582.2 million) for the fiscal year ended 31 March.
It owns John West Tuna, Petit Navire, Hyacinthe Parmentier and Mareblue, and Thai Union said it commands leading market positions in France, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.
Thai Union will fund the acquisition through €340 million ($441.8) in loans from international banks and a further THB 15 billion (€358 million/$465 million) from Thai banks. It will also issue up to €60 million ($78 million) in convertible bonds.
The Thai company said it expects to complete the deal—if approved by shareholders on 2 September —by the end of November.
"We believe the combination of these two highly complementary businesses will unlock synergies and create a leading global seafood company with broader sources of supply and end-markets," said Thai Union president Thiraphong Chansiri in a statement.
He said the acquisition will add four processing plants in France, Portugal, Seychelles and Ghana to its five existing facilities, and will double its fishing fleet from four to nine vessels.
Thai Union posted a record net profit of THB 3.3 billion (€78.7 million/$102.3 million) in 2009 on sales of THB 69 billion (€1.6 billion/$2.1 billion).
The auction of MW Brands, which was run by UBS AG, attracted several bidders.
Thai Union has appointed CIMB Securities (Thailand) as a financial adviser for the deal.
