31 October 2008 - Tiger Brands today advised shareholders it has received a R541 million cash offer from a consortium led by Brimstone, which includes key members of Sea Harvest management, to acquire Tiger Brands' 73.16% stake in its partly owned subsidiary company Sea Harvest. The offer has been accepted by Tiger Brands.
Peter Matlare, CEO of Tiger Brands, says the deal will be the largest empowerment transaction to have taken place in the South African fishing industry.
“Brimstone has from time to time indicated a desire to increase its shareholding in Sea Harvest. This transaction enables Tiger Brands to assist Brimstone in achieving its objectives and will result in a significant increase in Sea Harvest’s empowerment shareholder base.”
Matlare says Brimstone and its partners believe they are well placed to assist Sea Harvest in strengthening its position as a market leader. “This is a view shared and endorsed by Tiger Brands.”
“Brimstone is familiar with the operations of Sea Harvest and is positive about the long-term outlook of the South African fishing industry,” says Matlare.
Sea Harvest is a deep-sea trawler fishing and value-added fish processing company ideally situated close to the highly productive fishing grounds of the cold Benguela Current Ecosystem.
Established in 1964, Sea Harvest is based in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast of South Africa, approximately 140km from Cape Town.
The principal business of Sea Harvest is deep sea trawling, primarily for the two Cape Hake species, the processing of its catch into frozen and chilled seafood products, and the marketing of its production, both locally and internationally. Sea Harvest employs approximately 2,200 people and operates a fleet of 14 fresh fish trawlers and one factory freezer ship.
Sea Harvest’s production facilities incorporate state of the art processing techniques and equipment. The primary processing plant produces a wide range of natural products, both chilled and frozen, for the retail and food service markets. Sea Harvest also specialises in the adding of flavours, sauces, crumbs and batters to carefully selected raw materials.
The transaction is subject to a number of conditions before it becomes final. These include amongst others approval by the Competition Authorities and the Consortium receiving the necessary commitments from financial institutions for funding of the transaction.