Cargill announced early Monday morning it entered into an agreement to acquire EWOS, a global leader in salmon nutrition. Bloomberg reports that it represents Cargill’s largest purchase since 2011 and makes the company one of the three largest aqua-feed producers.
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The group also owns investment firm CarVal, which last month teamed up with Bank of Ireland and Goldman Sachs to buy a portfolio of loss-making Irish commercial loans from Lloyds Banking Group for £827m.
The firm announced in July a $30bn (£19.25bn) joint venture with Naturisa to build shrimp feed facilities in Ecuador, in which Cargill holds 75 per cent of the investment and manages day-to-day operations.
Cargill has satisfied its appetite for salmon by snapping up Norwegian fish feed maker Ewos as the US agribusiness aims to cater for increasingly health-conscious consumers.
With the EWOS deal, Cargill picks up three manufacturing facilities in Norway, and one each in Chile, Canada, Scotland and Vietnam, as well as two state-of-the-art R&D centers in Norway and Chile.
It already has aquaculture assets in Mexico, China and the U.S.
The deal was for 1.35 billion euros (about $1.5 billion) and is expected to close by the end of the year.
Research suggests that aquaculture production should double by 2030 to meet the world’s growing demand and needs, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Aquaculture might be the quickest rising food-producing sector and now accounts for nearly 50laptop of worldwide fish consumption, in contrast with 5pc in 1962 and 37laptop in 2002.
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Einar Wathne, chief executive of Ewos, said: “Cargill and EWOS will create a new, world-class aqua feed supply capability that will support the growth potential for fish and seafood consumption and create new opportunities for customers and employees alike”.
