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TALKS between the Icelandic Group, one of the world's largest seafood producers, and the European private equity company Triton Partners have surprisingly broken down.
Until last night, hopes had been high that Triton would acquire the Reykjavik-based seafood group which has production centres scattered around the world, including the UK. A deal was thought to be close.
Carl-Evald Bakke-Jacobsen, a co-owner of Triton, who led the negotiations, said last night the failure to secure a deal was a major disappointment and he found the decision incomprehensible from a commercial point of view. Finnbogi Jonsson, managing director of Icelandic, said the negotiations had come to a close and the company would now concentrate on financial and operation restructuring of the group.
It now remains to be seen if Canada's High Liner Foods, who earlier this month came on the scene with a 340-million euro bid for Icelandic, will increase its offer. High Liner is clearly keen on Icelandic's United States seafood operation, which is based in Newport News, Virginia. So far it has failed to secure talks with Icelandic's owners and it may yet come back in.
It is also interesting that Icelandic has said it intends to sell off its American business and its operation in China through a separate sale.
There has also been criticism, not least from the United States, that the bidding had been restricted to Triton and there had been many calls for a more open process.
Whatever happens, the fish trading side of the business will remain under the control of Icelandic to avoid complications over quotas.
The Icelandic Group's UK interests include Coldwater Seafoods and Seachill in Grimsby which together employ around 1,200 people, so there was strong interest in the negotiations with Triton. Coldwater's largest customer is Marks & Spencer.
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