Icelandic major seafood player strengthens group’s position in the Irish market with Oceanpath.
Oceanpath, the Irish subsidiary of Iceland Seafood, has completed the acquisition from Mondi Group AB of Carr & Sons Seafood and the sister company Mondi Properties which owns the production facilities.
In a press release, Iceland Seafood wrote that the consideration for the share capital was EUR 6.5 million, which previously disclosed at signing of LOI in August Carrs & Sons operates a production facility in Killala, focused on smoked salmon production with sales predominantly to retail.
Iceland Seafood has simultaneously exercised its option to acquire its 33 per-cent stake in Oceanpath from Ecock Holding After the transaction Oceanpath, the largest fresh seafood processor to Irish retailers, is 100 per-cent owned by Iceland Seafood. The consideration for the shares is EUR 9 million, with 40 per-cent paid in shares and 60 per-cent in cash.
Oceanpath’s brands includes smoked salmon premium retail brand Dunn’s of Dublin, which was founded in 1822.
Iceland Seafood said that it values highly the Ecock family, who founded the company three decades ago and has managed Oceanpath to become the market leader in Ireland.
“Ken and Trevor Ecock form the core of the management team in Ireland and will continue to do so, after having taken the baton from their father Alan Ecock who retired last summer,” it wrote. The Ecock family continues to be invested in the company, they will hold 58.477.341 shares in Iceland Seafood, representing about 2.19 per-cent of the outstanding share capital post transaction.
Iceland Seafood CEO Bjarni Ármannsson said that the company was delighted to further strengthen its position in the Irish seafood market.
“Oceanpath is a well run, efficient, customer oriented and innovative company. We are very proud of our relationship with the Ecock family and are confident that the management team will utilize this opportunity well. Carr & Sons is a well established company in the market and we are looking forward to have a stronger position in the Irish market. This creates opportunities for further innovation and consumer benefits, which are the only sustainable measures long term. This is a part of our journey of building strong Value-added companies that are close to the customer and we can, as a group leverage our sourcing power, manufacturing and marketing expertise,” said Ármannsson.
