Alliance buys 6 fishing vessels for tuna supply

Fisherman carries large size of Tuna Fish as they transfer from Tuna Port to Public Market in General Santos City. ANDREW TADALAN/FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Seafood producer Alliance Select Foods International Inc. has acquired six commercial tuna vessels worth $15 million, giving the company better control of fish supply such as for its canned tuna processing plant in General Santos City in Mindanao.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Alliance said it had acquired the vessels from BSJ Fishing & Trading Inc., fully settling the latter’s obligation to the company for fish deposits.

“With the acquisition of the fishing vessels, ASFII expects to ease its dependence on fish suppliers for its tuna business as it will give the company direct access to raw materials,” ASFII spokesperson Rajat Balain said.

Balain said this moves another step by ASFII in the direction of “vertical integration,” following the incorporation in May 2012 of PT Van de Zee, an Indonesian fishing company which is 80 percent owned by the company’s Indonesian subsidiary PT IAFI. This offshore unit has already secured a fishing allocation from the Indonesian government.

More recently, the company has also hatched a $2.18-million deal to acquire 80 percent of Akaroa Salmon NZ Ltd., a pioneer of farmed salmon industry in New Zealand, as part of its bid to become a significant regional salmon producer.

This follows the company’s $8.5-million takeover of Massachusetts-based salmon processor Spence & Co. Ltd., a deal which marked the foray by Alliance–erstwhile mostly manufacturing tuna as a while-label producer for the brands of other companies–into the branded food business.

Its overseas expansion in recent years is part of an aspiration to grow into a regional food company with a “decidedly Filipino DNA.” It is on the lookout for opportunities in regional seafood companies with high margins and high value products.