Situation

Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC (“Ocean Beauty”) and Icicle Seafoods, Inc. (“Icicle”) are two leading seafood processors in the state of Alaska. Competitive pressures and an oversupply of production capacity led the two parties to consider a merger to better make use of combined assets and personnel.

Cooke Aquaculture, the owner of Icicle Seafoods, and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC), a 50% owner of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, share a joint objective of creating an industry leader in the wild salmon sector. BBEDC’s partners in Ocean Beauty Seafoods, having been owners for over 20 years, were looking for liquidity and did not have the investment horizon to continue with the Alaska salmon business.

ZS Role

BBEDC engaged Zachary Scott to help achieve two objectives; 1) reorganize Ocean Beauty Seafoods to separate the ownership and control of the Alaska salmon business from its other businesses, and 2) negotiate a joint venture merger with Cooke Aquaculture that would combine the two companies’ Alaska salmon businesses.

Results

Zachary Scott assisted in negotiating the terms of a reorganization of Ocean Beauty Seafoods and a joint venture with Cooke Aquaculture, facilitating a merger of the Alaska salmon businesses and providing an exit path for BBEDC’s long-term partners. The merged salmon operation, operating as Ocean Beauty Icicle Seafoods, makes it one of Alaska’s largest salmon processors, at approximately $400MM in revenue.