CAPE TOWN: Sea Harvest Group Ltd (“Sea Harvest” or the “Group”) is pleased to announce that it has successfully concluded the purchase of certain of Terrasan Group Limited’s (“Terrasan”) subsidiaries, specifically 100% of its pelagic business and 63.07% of its abalone business (“Aqunion”) for an initial cash and share-settled consideration of ZAR965m.
Sea Harvest Group CEO, Felix Ratheb, says, “Sea Harvest welcomes Terrasan, with a rich history of 60 years, as its second largest shareholder. This transformative transaction creates the largest abalone business in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest black-owned diversified fishing businesses in South Africa.”
The purchase of the vertically integrated pelagic business, with its own factory in St Helena Bay, fishing vessels and recently renewed fishing rights, adds wild caught pelagic species and related value-added processed products, including fish oil, fish meal and canned fish, to Sea Harvest’s existing business. The acquisition enables Sea Harvest to better utilise its own small sardine and anchovy catch and adds a 119-year-old canned fish brand to its own 60-year-old hake brand.
Sea Harvest’s own existing abalone business will benefit from Aqunion’s mature biomass, intellectual property, and expertise. The 30-year-old, cash generative, vertically integrated business operates out of Hermanus and Gansbaai, and produces and sells dried, canned and live abalone to a diversified customer base across the Far East.
Sea Harvest Group Chairman, Fred Robertson, says, “The transaction moves us forward on our journey of achieving our vision of being the leading, black-owned, diversified and responsible South African fishing and seafood business. Central to our values as a company, the proposed transaction will benefit Terrasan and Sea Harvest employees by securing jobs in the rural communities of Saldanha, St. Helena Bay, Gansbaai, Buffeljags, Kleinzee and Hermanus.”
Terrasan Group CEO, Danie du Toit, earlier commented that the merger would create a South African abalone business of scale, while the synergistic relationship with Sea Harvest would place it in a champion position to exploit international opportunities and successfully compete in its target markets.
NOTES FOR THE EDITOR:
About the Sea Harvest Group
- Sea Harvest Group was founded in 1964 and is a vertically integrated, majority black owned, responsible fishing and food company that is listed on the Johannesburg Stock exchange in South Africa.
- The Group is a leading producer of premium seafood products, as well as dairy and other food products and markets its products to more than 30 countries globally.
- It employs c. 6000 staff and has operations in South Africa and Australia.
- It owns and operates c. 50 vessels, five fish processing facilities and two abalone farms. Its primary fish species are hake, horse mackerel, prawns and abalone.
- Sea Harvest supports an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) management in its wild- capture operations. Its Cape hake products and Australian Shark Bay prawns and Exmouth prawns proudly bear the blue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo – the gold standard for sustainability in the global fishing industry.
- In 2009, Sea Harvest and other commercial fishing companies, together with the World Wildlife Fund South Africa and BirdLife South Africa, formed the Responsible Fisheries Alliance (RFA) to initiate and fund projects that promote an EAF, thus ensuring that all facets of the marine eco-system are considered during the fishing process.
About the Terrasan
- Terrasan is a South African investment group that holds investments in the pelagic fishing, mariculture, aquaculture and property industries.
- It was incorporated in 1963 to create wealth for all its stakeholders by adding value to Southern Africa’s natural resources as well as participating in sustainable development projects by investing in productive assets.
- Terrasan subscribes to the vision that a sustainable business manages its activities and products responsibly to ensure a positive impact on society, the economy and a sustainable future.