April 2, 2013
Cooke Aquaculture offers to buy 54% of Invermar's shares
Invermar confirmed that Cooke Aquaculture, through a Chilean subsidiary, made an offer to buy the 54% of its shares for US$20 million, but claims it has not received information about the status of the negotiations.
On Friday (Mar 29) Invermar reported the Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros (SVS) that in January, the board learned that the company Salmones Cupquelán SA, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture Inc., submitted an offer to acquire the company Inversiones y TecnologÃa Limitada, the entire equity owned by the latter in Invermar, amounting to 156,153,494 shares, representing 54.07% of total shares.
The offer is for a total of US$20 million, at the rate of US$0.128079 per share. The offer considered an exclusivity period for negotiations among the parties for 30 days from January 28, 2013, during which the due diligence of the company was to be performed. Should the offer be accepted, it would not be subject to the performance of a tender offer of the shares.
As it was explained in Invermar, the offer was subject to the performance of a regulatory, environmental, operational, financial, tax and legal review of the business (due diligence), which would take place over a period of four weeks from the date such process is authorised by the board of Invermar.
Invermar believes that the performance of the transaction would represent clear synergies for both parties, as Cupquelán operates in the Region XI and its main business is fresh salmon, while Invermar has concessions in the Region X and produces frozen salmon in portions. Moreover, Cupquelán does not have recirculation aquaculture or processing plant, assets that Invermar does have.
It is estimated that a joint operation between the two companies would generate savings of at least US$5 million a year. Invermar also notes that Cupquelán is a subsidiary of a Canadian company that offers the highest production standards and that its financial capacity would make it possible to provide "the sufficient financial resources to meet the market situation currently affecting the industry."
Finally, Invermar informed the SVS that while Salmones Cupquelán ended the review process of legal, financial, accounting and tax background of Invermar, the company "has not received any information about the terms or state of the negotiations, other than the information mentioned above."
