Antarctica Advisors Acts as Exclusive Investment Banking Advisor to FRIME in its sale to Capitain Fresh
March 4 th, 2026 – Antarctica Advisors International acted as the exclusive investment banking advisor to Frime in its 100% sale to Captain Fresh, supported by a capital injection to fund post-transaction growth initiatives.
Founded in 1977, Frime is a Barcelona-based, family-owned seafood processor and one of Europe’s leading suppliers of sustainable tuna with over 20% share of Europe’s yellowfin tuna market. The company offers frozen, portioned, and ready-to-eat products to retail, foodservice, and industrial customers in 33 countries. Frime operates four production sites across seven factories (21,600 m² of productive surface and 20 production lines), with an annual capacity of 15,000 tons of frozen, 9,000 tons of fresh, and 3,800 tons of semi- preserved products, generating revenues in excess of €180 million and employing 450 people.
Captain Fresh is a technology-driven global packaged seafood company. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in India, Captain Fresh is a vertically integrated, multi-species, multi-geography seafood conglomerate. During FY 2025, the Captain Fresh group served almost 1,300 customers across 30+ countries, including the U.S., several countries in Europe, the U.A.E., and India, transacting in more than 90 species of seafood (including shrimp, salmon, tuna, and lobster), with its sourcing network spanning 650+ suppliers across 35 countries. In recent years, Captain Fresh has made six strategic acquisitions, and Antarctica acted as the M&A advisor to the sellers in three of those transactions (CenSea, Koral, and Frime).
Pablo Mugica, CEO of Frime, commented:
“This transaction marks an important milestone in Frime’s nearly 50-year history. We were seeking a long-term partner who shared our commitment to quality, sustainability, and innovation, and Captain Fresh provides the ideal platform to accelerate our international growth while preserving our culture and values. Antarctica Advisors guided us through a disciplined and competitive process, delivering a partner that strengthens our future and positions Frime for its next phase of expansion.”
Ignacio Kleiman, Managing Partner at Antarctica Advisors, commented:
“Frime is a premier European tuna platform with a strong brand, extremely modern and advanced processing capabilities, and a proven management team. We are proud to have structured a transaction that aligns Frime with a strategic global partner while securing capital to support continued growth. The partnership creates a compelling platform for international expansion and aligns both Frime’s and Captains Fresh’s goals moving forward.”
Utham Gowda, CMD & Group CEO at Captain Fresh, commented:
“With Frime, we enter tuna with a leadership position consistent with our approach in other categories. We can scale Frime’s tuna through our US network while simultaneously introducing our crustacean (shrimp, lobsters) and salmon portfolio deeper into Southern Europe. This multiplies customer share without incremental infrastructure, speeds up product innovation, and unlocks synergies across the Captain Fresh group ecosystem.”
For further information on this transaction contact:
Ignacio Kleiman, Antarctica Advisors International, IKleiman@AntarcticaINTL.com
