Thai Union and Savola to invest USD30–50m
KSA Thai Union Frozen Products, the world’s largest canned tuna maker, said it has signed a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group to tap the Middle Eastern seafood market.
The Thai seafood company is looking to expand into the Middle East, one of the world’s fastest-growing seafood markets, after its planned acquisition of Bumble Bee Seafoods faced potential delays due to an antitrust investigation in the United States.
Thai Union and Savola Foods Company together plan to invest USD30–50m in the joint venture over the next two years, the Thai firm said in a statement.
The joint venture will use Thai Union’s flagship John West brand to market in the Middle East countries and is expected to gain market share with a target annual sales revenue of over USD400m within the next three to four years, it added.
Savola Foods, which sells mass consumers foods such as edible oils,
sugar and pasta, generated revenue of USD3.9bn in 2014.
The Middle Eastern market is estimated to be valued at more than USD3bn, said Thai Union. The core markets such as Iraq,
Iran and Saudi Arabia alone had seafood sales in excess of USD2bn in 2014 and had average growth of more than 4% in the past five years, it said.
The company said it was on track to achieve sales target of USD8bn in 2020, despite the delay to the Bumble Bee deal.
Thai Union said it is keen to invest in growing markets such as Africa, Canada, and Asia.
