Tokyo-based seafood company Kyokuyo is continuing its acquisition streak with the purchase of North Seafood Holdings.
Kyokuyo announced on June 12 that it would acquire shares in the Urk, Netherlands-based company as part of its overseas business expansion. In its financial results for fiscal 2023, the company said it would focus on expanding its overseas business as part of its new mid-term management plan, “Gear Up Kyokuyo 2027.”
North Seafood (NSF) is a seafood fishing, processing and sales company that has been in operation since 1982. It mainly produces fillets and value-added products using white fish as raw materials.
Kyokuyo did not disclose terms of the deal.
In a release, Kyokuyo stated, “As we expand our overseas business, we are proceeding with the establishment of overseas production bases based on the basic policy of 'make overseas, sell overseas.' With this investment and making NSF a consolidated subsidiary, we will aim to expand our food production bases in Europe and expand the range of seafood ingredients we handle by having NSF process seafood ingredients procured from around the world, thereby pursuing economies of scale.”
The company plans to utilize the sales networks of Kyokuyo, NSF, and Kocaman Fisheries Export of Turkey, which it acquired in January 2024.
Kyokuyo has been making a series of acquisitions with the aim of expanding overseas, and in April it established a joint venture with Clear Ocean Seafoods, based in British Columbia, Canada. The new company will specialize in processing and exporting scallops from Hokkaido.
The company also established a Vietnamese subsidiary, Kyokuyo Bina Foods Co., Ltd., in July 2022. The company focuses on primary processing of seafood and the production of boiled and grilled fish. Kyokuyo said in its 2023 financial results that it plans to establish a food manufacturing subsidiary in Vietnam, which is scheduled to be operational in 2024.
