Icicle Seafoods, one of the largest seafood processors operating in Alaska, is set to be sold to one of the largest salmon farming companies on the Canadian east coast.
Icicle's involvement in the farmed Atlantic salmon business will be familiar territory to presumptive new owner Cooke Aquaculture, but the wild salmon segment will be a first for the family-owned company. Cooke Aquaculture will also acquire Icicle's groundfish operations.
"It's a complementary position where you have both the wild and farming side of the business," said Nell Halse, vice president of communications for Cooke Aquaculture. "You can merge marketing and distribution and provide customers of Icicle with a huge range of products."
The purchase gives Cooke, headquartered in New Brunswick, Canada, its first foothold in the Pacific Northwest. With the acquisition, the Cooke group of companies will produce over 275,000 metric tonnes of seafood annually and generate $1.8 billion in annual sales, according to a company statement.
Icicle's current owner is Paine & Partners, a global private equity investment firm that acquired Icicle in 2007. The purchase price was not disclosed as companies on both sides of the transaction are privately held. The sale is set to be finalized sometime in the next month.
Halse said the new owner intends to invest in Icicle -- and in Alaska -- and is not planning any personnel changes. It also plans to maintain relationships with the fishermen who have a history of working with Icicle.
"Our customers can be assured they will get the products they are used to getting and there may be some different ones as well," she said. "The Alaska fishery is a huge and important fishery and we intend to continue with that in mind and in fact grow the business."
Icicle was on the verge of being sold last year to a pair of Indonesian companies, but those deals failed to go forward for undisclosed reasons.