Central banks’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to a flood of cheap capital that is adding fuel to the seafood sector’s push to consolidate.

But with more institutional investors, such as private equities and pension funds, getting into the space alongside industry players, company valuations are getting more expensive. That’s at least the view of Glenn Cooke, the CEO and founder of the eponymous Canadian seafood conglomerate.

Cooke, speaking on Feb. 3 as part of a panel during the National Fisheries Institute’s online Global Seafood Market Conference, said that the deal-flow in the sector at present is “on par” with previous years. He added that interest from institutional investors heightens competition for acquisition targets.

“That makes deals a little more expensive,” he said. “You’re seeing multiples on the high side today in seafood, maybe too high, but, for us, we like resource. If we can buy more resource, whether that’s farming or fishing, either one of those resources are of interest for us.”

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US seafood entrepreneur Rodger May and Alaskan private equity McKinley CapitalManagement have closed a deal for salmon and whitefish processor Peter PanSeafoods from Japan’s Maruha Nichiro.

May and McKinley confirmed to Undercurrent News the deal closed on Dec.31. Undercurrent reported the deal agreement on Nov. 2 after first reporting the interest of McKinley and May, who already owns Alaskan seafood distributorNorthwest Fish Company, in July last year.

The deal creates a company with sales of over $300 million, as Northwest Fish generates a turnover of between $100m-$125m with Peter Pan at around $200m, depending on the salmon prices, industry sources told Undercurrent.

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While seafood has proved resilient during the COVID pandemic, investors remain reluctant.

Ignacio Kleinman, managing partner of Antarctica Advisors, says large animal protein companies are still largely perplexed by the complexity of seafood.

“[They] are used to beef, that comes from only one animal, pork that only comes from only one animal,” he explained while speaking as a panelist for the IntraFish Seafood Investor Forum earlier this month .

He added those sectors might gravitate to salmon or other species that are well-managed, but continue to function in a model that focuses on one species, versus several.

“They find the sector a little riskier,” he said of aquaculture, adding that wild-caught seafood is outright ignored by traditional investors because of risk factors that include product variability and high levels of regulation.

“Not all investors are ready to make that jump,” he said. “Those that have, they have done very well.”

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November 5, 2020 – Antarctica Advisors LLC, the leading Seafood Industry-focused M&A advisory firm, acted as the exclusive investment banking advisor to Stolt Sea Farm Investments BV (“Stolt”) in its sale of Sterling Caviar LLC (“Sterling”) to affiliates of Hyde Road Agricultural Associates LLC (“Hyde Road”).

Established in 1988 by Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, Sterling became the first sturgeon aquaculture company to sustainably farm raise the specie globally. Today, Sterling Caviar is the leading producer of domestic caviar, serving the most discerning chefs, customers, and caviar connoisseurs both here in the U.S. and abroad.

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The company announced in February it was looking to sell off the company, which traces its roots back to 1898 in Alaska.

Maruha Nichiro-owned Peter Pan Seafoods, one of Alaska’s oldest salmon processing companies, has been sold to a group of investors that includes Rodger May, the former owner of Washington State salmon farms now owned by Cooke Aquaculture, and private equity firm McKinley Capital Management.

Officials at Maruha Capital Investment Inc. which owns Peter Pan, along with Westward Seafoods, Alyeska Seafoods, Premier Pacific Seafoods and Trans-Ocean Products in the United States, announced in February it was looking to sell off the company, which traces its roots back to 1898 in Alaska.

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