February 25, 2013

South Korea's Dongwon Industries Co Ltd had made an initial offer to buy the Peruvian fish processor Pesquera Diamante.

According to Korean newspaper, the Asian firm, which is one of the leading companies in the fish food industry in South Korea, had offered to pay between US$600 million and US$800 million to take over all of the shares of the Peruvian firm.

Pesquera Diamante reported revenues of US$191.4 million for the export of fishmeal in 2012, almost 11% of the total value of Peruvian exports of this product. The total sent abroad by the Peruvian company amounted to US$236 million last year, of which US$21 million came from frozen jack mackerel, Abancay Noticias detailed.

Diamante has 10 fishmeal plants, a cannery in Samanco and two frozen product factories. It also has a fleet of 42 vessels -- 32 boats fish anchovy for indirect human consumption, 15 of which are prepared for jack mackerel and mackerel catching.

Furthermore, Dongwon has signed a partnership agreement with the Chinese company Bright Food Group. This alliance will allow Dongwon to further penetrate the Chinese market of canned tuna with its products, while Bright Food Group will distribute and sell them.

The plan of the South Korean firm is to use Bright Food Group, which is the largest food producer and distributor in China, with a distribution network of more than 10,000 large discount and convenience stores, to achieve annual sales of canned tuna of US$463.37 million in 2018 only in China.