Los Fiordos agrees to USD 229 million Friosur acquisition in Chile

Los Fiordos has closed the acquisition of fellow Atlantic farmer Friosur for USD 229 million (EUR 196.4 million), culminating a sale process that involved some of Chile’s biggest names in salmon as suitors over several months.

According to a filing with Chile’s securities regulator SVS, Los Fiordo’s parent company Agrosuper confirmed that the deal had been accepted in writing and also included Piscacola Hornopiren and Salmones Frioaysen, which are business units of the Friosur operation. 

Friosur, which is controlled by Josè Luis del Rìo Goudie and his family members, was put up for sale in the beginning of the year. The acquisition gives Los Fiordos 20,000 MT of additional salmon production and 40 aquaculture concessions in the Aysèn Region.

Six firms were reportedly after Friosur, with local media reporting that AquaChile was the front-runner after making a USD 200 million (EUR 161.8 million) offer. For its part, just before Los Fiordos announced the acquisition, AquaChile announced it had reached its own deal to purchase Salmones Magallanes and Pesquera Eden for USD 255 million (EUR 218.4 million).

The Friosur acquisition still needs regulatory approval from Chile’s antitrust authority and the company expects to finish the process in the third quarter of this year. 

The Del Rio family is reportedly interested in focusing its activities away from aquaculture and instead on wild-catch species like Southern hake, as well as other industries like construction, in which the family group is active. 

Agrosuper is a leading domestic supplier of chicken, beef and pork. According to the company’s 2017 annual report, the firm sold approximately USD 2.5 billion (EUR 2.14 billion) in total sales of proteins, with salmon accounting for 14.9 percent, or USD 375 million (EUR 321.5 million) of that amount. The company’s international protein export business brought around USD 1.05 billion (EUR 900 million) in revenue, and salmon’s share was 34 percent, or USD 357 million (EUR 306 million). Currently, its main salmon export market is the United States, which receives 32.8 percent of its salmon products.