Takeover over Farne Salmon owner goes through – Fishupdate.com

Takeover over Farne Salmon owner goes through Published:  19 August, 2009

A TAKEOVER move involving the seafood group Alfesca, the owner of Farne Salmon and Trout in Scotland and Lyons Seafood in England, was finally sealed yesterday.

The bid came from a consortium which comprised Lur Berri a French owned, but Icelandic based subsidiary, two food companies, and members of Alfesca senior management including the chief executive Xavier Govare, who were seeking shares outside their control.

The non consortium shareholders overwhelmingly agreed to sell their stake in Alfesca with the result that the consortium now has more than 90 per cent of the issued share capital. Eventually Alfesca will be de-listed from the Iceland Stock Exchange.

A spokeswoman for the company said it would be ‘business as usual’ for both Farne Salmon and Lyons Seafood who together employ several hundred people in the UK and are major seafood suppliers to the supermarket sector.

Based at Duns on the Scottish Borders, Farne Salmon employs up to 500 people, a figure which increases to nearly 1,000 in the busy Christmas run up period. There is also a strong French influence in the group through its Labeyrie business. Despite the recession and high salmon prices Alfesca group remains profitable and seafood sales have held up well, but it was felt that a new focus was needed to meet the challenges ahead – hence the largely internal takeover bid.

Last the year the group performed so well that it attracted interest from Qatar in the Middle East, but that was later withdrawn as the recession intensified.