Buhers line up for Newfoundland seafood processor

Buyers line up for Newfoundland seafood processor By Nancy Griffin Fishery Products International, Ltd. (FPI) of St. John's, Newfoundland, the largest seafood company in Atlantic Canada, with a division in Danvers, MA, suddenly has four offers on the table to purchase some or all of its assets. One of the offers came from an internal group made up of current FPI board members. Even with no details published, this offer did not meet with enthusiasm from Newfoundland's fisheries minister, who views present management as a problem for the company, not a solution. A second offer came from the Corner Brook, Newfoundland-based Barry Group, which has extended previous offers to purchase various FPI assets. Another offer was made by Ocean Choice International Inc. of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. The latest offer comes from longtime FPI rival High Liner Foods, Inc., the Nova Scotia-based processor that is one of the biggest suppliers of frozen seafood in North America. High Liner operates a plant in Portsmouth, NH, and once operated a plant in Rockland, when the company was known as National Sea Products. Fisheries minister Tom Rideout says the government prefers a "package deal" rather than sales of individual assets. No deal can be made without approval by provincial lawmakers since the company was created out of several small, failing processors in 1984 and is still governed by the FPI Act, a law passed to ensure the assets of the company don't leave provincial control. Although the company was privatized a few years later, a revised FPI Act also mandates a majority of the company's board of directors live in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. FPI owns several processing plants around Newfoundland and fishing vessels that control fish and crab quota. Failed contract negotiations with union workers in its Burin Peninsula plants led to offers to buy one of those plants by the Barry Group and the Penney Group, Ocean Choice's parent company, last year. So far, it appears Barry Group, Ocean Choice and FPI's internal group are offering to buy only the Newfoundland assets, although Ocean Choice's bid also includes FPI's offshore shrimp, turbot and scallop business. Rideout said ontrol over fishing and processing the quota must remain in Newfoundland for any deal to be approved. High Liner's proposal apparently includes all of FPI's assets, including the Danvers-based North American marketing division that produces several lines of value-added products for food service and retail sales. John Risley, a member of the FPI board of directors, was part of a takeover of the FPI board several years ago, when his group wrested control from the longtime board and FPI's CEO Vic Young. Risley, who owns nearly 15 percent of FPI stock, is the chairman of Clearwater Seafoods, a Nova Scotia-based company. After the offer was tendered, Risley called High Liner "a good company" and added "The seafood industry is badly in need of consolidation... we're happy to consider a process by which they will end up with the opportunity to lead that consolidation." FPI has been in negotiations on and off for two years with members of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, trying to get plant workers to accept a cut in pay before the company would reopen plants on the Burin Peninsula. FPI has been attempting to restructure its Newfoundland fish processing operations to increase efficiency and cut losses -- reportedly as high as $1 million (Canadian) per month. The company's 1,700 plant workers and 200 trawler operators have been without an agreement since March 31, 2005. A few years ago, FPI changed the name of its U.S. division in Danvers to Ocean Cuisine, positioning the division for a separate sale, many believed. The company changed the division's name back to FPI last year, apparently because the province would not allow it to be spun off from the company's other assets.