Cooke Inc., parent company of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and Tassal Group Limited of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding stock of Tassal for A$5.23 per share in cash by way of a scheme of arrangement. The August 16 announcement of the came just a week after Cooke snapped up Ostend, Belgium-based shrimp processor Morubel.
The transaction price values Tassal share equity at approximately A$1.1 billion and represents a premium of 49% to Tassal’s undisturbed closing share price on June 22, 2022.
Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TGR), Tassal is the largest vertically integrated seafood producer and blue agri-tech operation in Australia. In business for more than 36 years, it employs over 1,700 people in Tasmania and Australia who farmed 40,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon and 5,500 metric tons of black tiger prawn in 2021 for domestic and export markets in Asia, New Zealand and the USA.
Tassal distributes salmon and prawns through its De Costi Seafood unit in Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia, where it also sources and processes a wide range of seafood. Prawns are distributed through supermarkets, delicatessens, and fish markets under the Tropic Co trademark.
The company’s salmon farms span five marine zones. Four freshwater hatcheries and four processing facilities are in Tasmania, while prawn farming, processing and seafood processing is undertaken in New South Wales and Queensland.
“Tassal is an excellent fit with Cooke, as we see many similarities between our two companies. Our people and communities are very comparable as well, with agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, and forestry prominently supporting export-driven economies,” said Glenn Cooke, chief executive officer of Cooke Inc.
He added: “We understand completely that the Tasmanian fish farming industry is Australia’s most valuable seafood production sector, and our top priority will be to work with other producers and government regulators on continuous environmental improvement plans as well as strengthening supply chain and local community relationships. We intend to make strategic investments in engineering, science and technology to further enhance Tassal’s capabilities, in addition to growing their sales reach through leveraging our worldwide seafood distribution channels.”
At 115,000 metric tons annually, Cooke is the sixth largest farmed salmon producer in the world and, like Tassal, all Cooke feed mills, hatcheries, farms and processing operations are accredited by third-party organizations. The Tassal acquisition would put Cooke at 155,000 metric tons — closing in on becoming a top five producer. In 2021, the world’s demand for low carbon footprint, affordable, nutritious protein, resulted in more than four million metric tons of farmed salmon produced globally by all companies.
