January 17, 2014

Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods sets acquisition plans for 2014

For 2014, Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods (COSFF), the number one shrimp importer in the US and part of Thai Union Frozen Products, is making acquisition plans.

"Primarily, we're looking at mid-sized companies that would benefit from our scale and customer base," said Paul McCarthy, executive vice president of COSFF. "Diversification into other commodity seafood categories is an important part of our growth plan and we would like to fast track that process via acquisition."

The company's sales come primarily from frozen shrimp, with pasteurised crab meat also being a key species, and its interests lie in both core and new species.

This comes at a time in the US where more deals are seen to be in the works, bankers and seafood sector sources said.

"We're looking to accomplish a couple of things. One is to strengthen our core business which means growing our market share in the commodity seafood business in general, both organically and through acquisition. We also are exploring value added companies, seafood related, but target companies may also work with other proteins," Carlos Faria, vice president of operations, who heads up acquisition efforts for COSFF, said.

In 1997, it was part of the investment group Tri-Union Seafoods which bought Van Camp Seafood Company, along with Edmund Gann, a tuna fleet owner; and Tri Marine International, the tuna fishing, processing and trading giant. The new owners changed the name of Van Camp Seafood to Chicken of the Sea International.

In 2000, Tri-Marine and Gann sold their 50% interest in Chicken of the Sea to Thai Union. Chicken of the Sea International and Tri-Union International merged into one company, still called Chicken of the Sea International, which remained the shelf stable seafood division of Thai Union in the US.

In 2003, Thai Union snapped up Empress International, an importer of frozen shrimp and shellfish. In 2006, Thai Union formed a new division, COSFF, to focus on sales of fresh and frozen seafood products. In 2011, this division was merged with Empress to form the company as it is today.

This strategy from the Thai Union-owned importer is part of a general trend for more companies to be looking at M&A, sources in the financial sector said.