Umami Sustainable Seafood has announced Baja Aqua Farms of Mexico, of which it owns 33%, has executed sales agreements with Japanese buyers including a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlantis Group, the 62% shareholder of Umami, for a total of $20 million of bluefin tuna.
Delivery will commence in November and will be completed before the end of the January 2011.
Umami recently announced that it exercised an option to acquire the remaining equity interests in Baja, which subject to obtaining sufficient financing, is expected to close on or before 30 November 2010.
In announcing the contract, Oli Steindorsson, CEO of Umami, said: "We are pleased to see that our decision to invest in Baja is already being validated by these sales agreements, which have been negotiated at price levels which reflect the high level of demand among Japanese clients for the type of premium quality bluefin produced by Baja, and are at the upper end of our forecast range.
"The cash proceeds from the sales will be used both to supplement Baja's working capital as well as build additional capacity in Baja to ensure consolidation of its position as the preeminent bluefin operation in the Americas."
Steindorsson confirmed Umami is also in the process of finalising its sales programme for its 100% owned subsidiary Kali Tuna, which it expects to complete within a few months.
He said that Baja and Kali Tuna currently have combined inventory of over 5,500 tonnes of bluefin.
“Although we do not expect them to sell but part of this inventory this year, if they did so, it would represent a total sales value of approximately $120 million (€85 million) at current prices. This represents an excellent base to deliver good returns on our investment as we move further into our first year as a public company."
Kali Tuna is an established Croatian-based aquaculture operation raising northern bluefin tuna in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea.
