June 25, 2013
China Fishery to buy Cermaq's share in Copeinca
Norwegian fish-feed maker Cermaq has agreed to sell its shares in Peruvian fishmeal company Copeinca to China Fishery Group.
Cermaq said China Fishery Group has entered into a pre-acceptance agreement for all shares owned by Cermaq ASA, and that a completion of the voluntary offer will provide Cermaq with total proceeds of approximately NOK928 million (US$151 million) and a gain of NOK114 million (US$19 million).
China Fishery, a unit of Pacific Andes Resources Development Ltd (PAH), will offer NOK68.17 (US$11.13) a share through its Grand Success Investment unit, according to Copeinca, as opposed to its earlier bid of NOK59.70 (US$9.75). China Fishery has pre-acceptances for about 57% of the fishmeal maker, so that it now controls 74.2% of the group, Copeinca noted.
At the time of the announcement, China Fishery owns 5,773,000 Copeinca shares, representing 8.22% of the total number of shares outstanding in Copeinca. Further, late last week, China Fishery exercised its call option to acquire 6,295,100 additional Copeinca shares, representing approximately 8.97% of the outstanding shares in Copeinca, from Veramar Azul SL, pursuant to a call option agreement.
Moreover, China Fishery said it has received pre-acceptances for the new offer for a total of 40,039,247 Copeinca shares, representing 57.04% of the outstanding shares in Copeinca, from various Copeinca shareholders, including Dyer Coriat Holding SL (19,098,000 shares or 27.21%), Weilheim Investments SL (3,485,930 shares or 4.97%), and Cermaq (13,620,492 shares or 19.40%). This leaves China Fishery with 74.2% of Copeinca's shares.
The Hong Kong-based company's goal is to, via the purchase of Copeinca, expand its reach within Peru, which is the world's largest exporter of salmon feed ingredients by volume and Peru's second-largest fishing company. The strategy is tightly tied to the global aquaculture industry being on the upswing and livestock production increasing.