Tassal signs $1.7b deal with Canadian seafood giant Cooke

Tasmanian salmon farmers Tassal have agreed to a deal which will see the 35-year-old company bought out by a Canadian seafood company.

Tasmanian salmon farming business Tassal Group looks set to be taken off the Australian Securities Exchange after signing a $1.7 billion deal to be bought-out by Canadian aquaculture group Cooke.

Tassal has entered into a scheme implementation deed with Cooke for 100 per cent of the company, with shareholders set to receive $5.23 a share.

The deal assumes an equity value for the Tasmanian aquaculture business of $1.1 billion and a value of $1.7 billion, which is a 12 per cent improvement on an earlier offer for the company rejected by the board in June for $4.85 a share.

Tassal’s board has recommended shareholders vote in favour of the deal at a meeting expected to be held in November.

Today’s announcement followed months of back and forth between Tassal and Cooke to secure a more lucrative proposition for the 35-year-old Australian salmon farming company that has been a feature of the ASX since its listing in 2003.

Tassal chair James Fazzino said the board believed the revised proposal reflected appropriate long-term value for the business, “and is unanimous in its view that the scheme is in the best interests of Tassal shareholders”.

The offer is not subject to finance of any due diligence conditions.

Tassal grows, sells and markets salmon, prawns and seafood products.

Cooke – which already owns 10.5 per cent of Tassal – has received Foreign Investment Review Board approval for the purchase.

Tassal is one of Australia’s largest salmon producers and a major player in Tasmania’s booming $1 billion commercial salmon industry alongside Huon Aquaculture and Petuna.

Tassal’s impending exit from the ASX would closely follow that of Huon, after it was purchased by Brazilian agribusiness JBS in December last year.

Tassal’s share price climbed 5.32 per cent off the announcement to $5.15 at 11.30am.