China Fishery has made a new offer of NOK 68.17 (USD 11.15, EUR 8.5) per share, an estimated total of NOK 4.8 million (USD 785,331, EUR 599.380) for a controlling interest in the Copeinca.
China Fishery initially made an offer to buy Copeinca back in February, at NOK 53.85 (USD 8.81, EUR 6.72) per share, an offer Copeinca rejected. Not long afterward, Norwegian aquaculture company Cermaq made an offer of NOK 59.70 (USD 9.76, EUR 7.45) per share, an offer China Fishery matched.
Just last month, however, Cermaq backed out, leaving China Fishery the lone bidder. Copeinca’s statement does not indicate why China Fishery upped its bid, but the board indicated it “welcomes” the new offer.
“The new offer price represents an attractive opportunity for all Copeinca shareholders to receive a substantial premium to the previous voluntary offers,” the board said in its statement.
The China Fishery offer is expected to be formalized by 5 August, but already China Fishery has entered into “pre-acceptance” procedures to acquire over 40 million shares, or 57 percent of the company, from major shareholders Dyer Coriat Holding, Weilheim Investments and Cermaq. In a separate statement, Cermaq indicated it also welcomed China Fishery's buyout offer.
China Fishery already owns 5.8 million shares of Copeinca, and has exercised a call option to Copeinca shareholder Veramar Azul for another 6.3 million more. If all transactions go as planned, China Fishery will wind up owning 74 percent of the company, according to the Copeinca board.
Copeinca is the largest fishmeal and fish oil producer in Peru. China Fishery is one of the larger fishmeal producers in China.
