Tokyo, Japan-based seafood company Kyokuyo has continued its acquisition streak via the purchase of Northseafood Holding.
Kyokuyo announced on 12 June that it is purchasing a stake in the Urk, Netherlands-based company as part of its push to expand its overseas business. The company said in its FY2023 results that as part of its new medium-term business plan, “Gear Up Kyokuyo 2027,” it will focus on expanding its overseas business.
Northseafood (NSF) is a seafood fishing, processing, and sales company that has operated since 1982. The company mainly produces products from whitefish, such as fillet and value-added products.
Kyokuyo did not disclose the terms of the deal.
“As we expand our overseas business, we are promoting the development of overseas production bases under the basic policy of ‘making overseas and selling overseas,” Kyokuyo said in a release. “With this investment and making NSF a consolidated subsidiary, we will expand our food production bases in Europe and pursue economies of scale by expanding the handling of marine ingredients by having NSF process the marine ingredients we procure from around the world.”
The company said it expects to utilize the sales networks of Kyokuyo, NSF, and Kocaman Fisheries Export, a Turkish company it acquired in January 2024.
Kyokuyo has been on an acquisition streak in its push to grow its reach overseas. In April, the company launched a joint venture with British-Columbia, Canada-based Clear Ocean Seafood. The new venture will specialize in processing and exporting scallops from the Japanese province of Hokkaido.
The company also established Kyokuyo Vina Foods Co. as a Vietnamese subsidiary in July 2022, which focuses on primary processing of seafood and the production of simmered and grilled fish. Kyokuyo said in its FY2023 results that it plans to establish a food manufacturing subsidiary in Vietnam, which will be operational “some time in FY2024.”
