Alliance Select drops NZ salmon unit

Seafood exporter Alliance Select Foods International Inc. has unloaded its majority stake in New Zealand’s second largest smoked salmon processor, Prime Foods NZ Ltd. (PFNZ), which it described as a “nonperforming” subsidiary.

PFNZ, in turn, ceded its shares in Alliance’s subsidiary, Big Glory Bay Salmon and Seafood Company Inc. (BGB), in exchange for its existing debts.

This allowed Alliance to take 100 percent control of BGB, which has plant facilities in Barrio Tambler, General Santos City.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Alliance said it had sold its majority share in PFNZ to HC & JW Studholme No. 2 Family Trust for $5,000.

Alliance explained PFNZ’s liabilities exceeded its assets.

Based on the disclosure, PFNZ also granted to BGB the Prime Foods trademark and the use of PFNZ recipes. PFNZ will also repay US$1.76 million of its debts to BGB on a staggered basis for a period of 14 years.

PFNZ is engaged in the business of processing, manufacturing, and distributing smoked salmon and other seafood under the Prime Smoke and Studholme brand, for distribution in New Zealand and other countries. Its plant is located in Hororata, Darfield, but its head office is in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Alliance said its investment in BGB allows the group to be a “dominant player in the smoked salmon industry in the region, and to continue on a path towards further product and resource diversification.” Doris Dumlao-Abadilla