Nueva Pescanova, based in Redondela (Pontevedra) is reportedly fishing for investment

ABANCA which owns 97 per cent of Nueva Pescanova, synonymous with frozen fish in Spain, is reportedly looking for a business partner or a potential sale.

Based in Redondela (Pontevedra) Nueva Pescanova operates in 17 countries on five continents, selling its products in more than 80 countries.

Formerly known as Pescanova, the name which still appears on retail products, the original company collapsed and was refunded in 2015.

Canadian seafood combine Cooke Inc was said to be in negotiations to buy a majority stake in the company in late February.  It now has competition from US company Red Chamber Group, which entered negotiations with Abanca in mid-March according to the Spanish digital newspaper, El Confidencial.

The deadline for paying a €150 million debt to Sabadell, Caixabank and Santander loomed at the same time although Nueva Pescanova announced beforehand that this would be paid “with total normality and full financial independence.”

Nueva Pescanova had total sales of €1.08 billion in the financial year that ended in March 2022, doubling its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) to €80 million compared with its €39.5 million results in 2020.

Despite these buoyant figures, the La Voz de Galicia newspaper predicted that the next fiscal year was likely to be “well below” the 2021 result.

Meanwhile, referring to the negotiations with Cooke Inc and Red Chamber Group, Nueva Pescanova’s CEO Ignacio Gonzalez stressed that Nueva Pescanova was not for sale.

“Looking for an industrial partner does not mean selling,” Gonzalez insisted.

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