April 5, 2022

AquaChile divests tilapia operations in Costa Rica

Chile's largest salmon farmer, AquaChile, has completed the divestiture of its tilapia operations in Costa Rica, selling its subsidiary Grupo ACI to Costa Rica's AquaFoods Group for US$6 million, AquaChile chief executive officer Sady Delgado reported to Chilean markets regulator CMF.

"The effect on income from this transaction was a total loss of US$36.4 million," Delgado said, adding that Costa Rica's competition watchdog had approved the operation on March 17, with the deal finalised on March 31.

AquaChile previously said the sale was completed to allow it to concentrate fully on salmon production. Following Chilean food protein giant Agrosuper's purchase of a 67% share in AquaChile in a 2018 deal worth US$850 million, it made it clear the firm's Costa Rican tilapia operations did not fit into the company's strategy.

Grupo AquaCorporación Internacional (Grupo ACI) has participated in the tilapia industry for more than 30 years. It developed the Rainforest Tilapia brand, focusing on supplying fresh tilapia to large supermarket chains, distributors and restaurants in the United States and achieved a market share of more than 25% during 2019, according to AquaChile's 2020 financial report. The acquisition includes tilapia production in Guanacaste, a processing plant in Terrapez, and the commercial operation based in Miami, Florida, US.

The AquaFoods Group is a subsidiary of the Costa Rica-based seafood company Industrias Martec, one of Costa Rica's largest exporters of wild-caught fish, and it also works in aquaculture via its cultivation of spotted rose snapper (Lutjanus guttatus).

The company is experimenting with integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) as part of an expansion into offshore cage aquaculture. Its spotted rose snapper operation has four-star Best Aquaculture Practices certification for its closed-cycle hatchery located in Guanacaste, its offshore farm, and processing plant.

Martec previously said its Grupo ACI acquisition supported its mission of "feeding the world sustainably through water" and its growth strategy. Martec has said the acquisition's value proposition lies in selling fresh products coming from Costa Rica, a country renowned for its environmental stewardship.

"This will be the way to feed the world in the not-so-distant future. It makes sense in terms of synergies," the company said in a statement. 

- SeafoodSource