The final closing took place on Wednesday, 14 December when a public purchase deed was signed in Uruguay, finalizing a thorough court approval process.
The Fripur acquisition was completed through Perindes S.A., which is owned by the Cooke family.
Cooke had previously begun to repair the Uruguayan fishing vessels and the company anticipates a resumption of fishing operations early in 2017. Fripur traditionally harvested approximately 16,000 tons of Hake (merlusa) and 1,600 MT Red Crab annually within the Uruguayan operations.
The acquisition of Grinfin, a subsidiary of Fripur based in Argentina, was completed several weeks ago and fishing has already started.
That purchase was made through Wanchese Argentina S.r.l., an entity owned by Cooke Seafood USA, Inc. Grinfin employs 70 people and the operation includes 3 large hake fishery vessels along with an office in Buenos Aires. Grinfin has a quota to fish 8,000 MT of hake per year in Argentina.
