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Cape Town - A consortium of black-owned companies led by the Sea Harvest Group has confirmed the terms of its transaction to acquire the fishing business of Viking Fishing Holdings, while Sea Harvest Aquaculture, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sea Harvest is acquiring 51% of the issued share capital of Viking Aquaculture.
The two companies are jointly referred to as the Viking Group. The envisioned transaction closing date is 2 July 2018.
Sea Harvest CEO Felix Ratheb says the parties have agreed on a purchase price of about R885m, which is to be satisfied through a combination of cash on hand, bank facilities, an issue of Sea Harvest shares and vendor funding.
The transaction has been approved by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act and the Competition Commission has recommended to the Competition Tribunal that the transaction be approved with a condition of non-sharing of information between shareholder related entities.
The Viking Group is seen as a very complementary business and the joining of the two organisations allows diversification into other species and create a truly global diversified fishing company which will now include aquaculture, said Ratheb.
The assets being acquired as part of the transaction are situated across various locations in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique and comprise of fishing rights, vessels, fish processing facilities, aquaculture farms (including the biological assets) and working capital.
The black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium includes three SMME’s, namely SeaVuna Fishing Company, Nalitha Investments and the South African Fishing Empowerment Corporation. The latter two companies are new entrants to the fishing industry and are wholly black-owned.
Sea Harvest and Viking will jointly provide funding of R124m to the BEE consortium.
Fred Robertson, Sea Harvest chair said Sea Harvest is pleased to promote SMME’s and the establishment of new entrants into the fishing sector and will assist them with funding, vessels, skills and access to markets to ensure they are successful.
"The transaction has many benefits, apart from significantly increasing black participation and ownership in the fishing industry, it will ensure the protection of jobs, particularly in the areas of Saldanha Bay, Mossel Bay and Cape Town, and along with the rural communities of Kleinzee and Gansbaai,” he said.
“The Sea Harvest consortium is excited by the Viking Group acquisition. It will allow us to advance our ambitions of growing a B-BBEE Group with transnational interests in the food and fishing sectors."
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