Isidoro Quiroga strikes back, launching legal measures against Australis owner Joyvio in China and Chile

Isidoro Quiroga, the former head of Puerto Varas, Chile-based Australis Seafoods, has gone on the offensive after being accused of fraud by the company's new ownership group.

Australis was sold to Chinese foodservice giant Joyvio in 2018 for USD 921 million (EUR 850 million). In March 2023, Joyvio announced a plan to file a USD 1.22 billion (EUR 1.13 billion) lawsuit against Quiroga, seeking the return of its investment plus USD 300 million (EUR 274 million) in damages. Joyvio accused Quiroga of withholding information regarding overproduction at several of the company’s farming centers during the acquisition’s due diligence phase.

Now, Quiroga said he has hired a law firm in China to "pursue and make clear" to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and investors "the lack of truth" coming from Joyvio and its board, chaired by Shaopeng Chen, Chilean newspaper El Mercurio reported. Quiroga plans to file a complaint with the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission alleging Joyvio delivered false information to the market.

The legal team representing Quiroga’s investment firm, Asesoría e Inversiones Benjamín, has unveiled documents they said completely refute Joyvio’s claim it was unaware of any overproduction. The information stems from a labor lawsuit filed by Santiago Garretón, a former administration and finance manager at Australis who was fired by the board of directors in 2022. The documents provided to SeafoodSource include ... 

Photo courtesy of Chile’s Superintendency of the Environment (Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente)