• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Six Groups Can Bid for Mexico's Seafood Company at Auction

Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 21--Six business groups have qualified to bid in the auction of Ocean Garden Products, the seafood sales and marketing company that is owned by the Mexican government and based in San Diego.

The winner most likely will be chosen from among the names revealed yesterday by Bancomext, the government import-export bank that owns the firm.

But before the companies can submit a bid, they must present additional information and put up a $1.4 million bond, said Gontran Hernandez, the official overseeing the privatization.

"We are expecting to receive the proposals of the participants on Sept. 19 and to finish the process by the end of the year," Hernandez said.

This is the third time the Mexican government has tried to put the operation in private hands. Previous attempts in 1993 and 1994 were unsuccessful because bidders did not put up the minimum amount the government expected.

Ocean Garden has a reputation as one of the top seafood merchants in the world. From its headquarters near Montgomery Field, the company oversees sales offices throughout the United States and Mexico, and sales agents in Europe, Asia and Canada.

Although it distributes lobster, crab, abalone, squid and finfish, Ocean Garden's main product is shrimp. Three-quarters of the shrimp it sells is wild- catch or from aquafarms in the Gulf of California, the Pacific Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

The company had sales of $260 million in 2004 and expects to top $300 million this year.

Hernandez said the government has not yet determined Ocean Garden's value.

The strength of the bidding groups might make this attempt to privatize the operation successful.

"The six groups are very well-known and well-capitalized groups," Ocean Garden President Antonio Diaz said yesterday.

The six qualifying groups are:

--Maricultura del Norte, an aquaculture firm run by Philippe Charat, a former Mexican tuna fleet operator who lives in Rancho Santa Fe. Maricultura raises high-grade bluefin tuna in the Pacific Ocean, south of Ensenada, that is sold in Japan mainly for sashimi and sushi.

--Agribrands Purina Mexico, a major supplier of fish and animal feed. The operation was bought by U.S. agricultural giant Cargill several years ago. It is the main supplier of feed for aquaculture operations raising shrimp.

--A group formed by Granjas Aquatech, Grupo Industria Pesquero Mexicano and Acuicola Boca. The three, all based in the state of Sonora, are profitable producers of wild and farmed shrimp. Acuicola Boca is owned by the family of Sonoran governor Eduardo Bours, which also owns poultry operations and is a major competitor with Agribrands Purina in supplying feed to the shrimp aquaculture industry.

--Martuna, one of the country's largest sellers of tuna fish.

--A group that includes Marcos y Asociados, Acuicola de los Mochis, Mariscos Congelados de los Mochis, Acuicola Camacoa and Congeladora Bahum. The five businesses are all small aquaculture operators in the area of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa.

--A group including Aquaproductiva, Empresa Integradora de Organismos Acuicolas de Sonora and Acuicola del Desierto. The Sonora-based companies are among the biggest suppliers of shrimp to Ocean Garden.

-----

To see more of The San Diego Union-Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.uniontrib.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

More News in this Category