Captain Fresh, a seafood processor in India, has acquired Polish salmon peer Koral from private-equity investor Abris Capital Partners.
In turn, Warsaw-based Abris will take an undisclosed stake in Captain Fresh, which is located in Bengaluru and supplies shellfish and a range of fish, including salmon and tuna, to retailers in Asia, Europe and North America.
Abris acquired Koral in 2017 as part of a deal for canned fish company Graal Group in Poland. The investor first took a majority stake before taking full control of Graal with its owner Bogusław Kowalski.
Wejherowo-based Graal was then sold to the Germany-headquartered dairy group Müller last year. Koral was retained and carved out as a standalone business.
Financial terms of the two-way deal between Captain Fresh and Abris have not been revealed.
A spokesperson for Abris told Just Food that the stake taken in Captain Fresh amounts to a "small minority".
The Koral management team will remain in place, including Kowalski and Justyna Frankowska. The deal is subject to competition approval in Poland.
Koral, based in Kukinia, was set up in 1957 and supplies fresh, frozen and smoked fish such as salmon, trout, tuna and halibut. The company’s namesake brand and the SuperFish line are sold into European retail, along with private-label offerings to supermarkets.
The Abris spokesperson confirmed Koral also supplies the foodservice channel and exports to about 30 countries, declining to provide any detail on revenues or profits.
Utham Gowda, the CEO of Captain Fresh, said: “This acquisition is a strategic milestone in our mission to become the leading tech-enabled multi-species, multi-origin global seafood conglomerate.
“The European market is one of the most exciting VAP (value-added product) opportunities in seafood globally.”
Captain Fresh is backed by a group of investors, including New York-based Tiger Global Management, Prosus Ventures in the Netherlands, the UK government’s British International Investment, and Ankur Capital in Mumbai.
Kamil Gajdziński, an investment manager at Abris, added: “This partnership between Koral and Captain Fresh is further evidence of the fantastic potential of Central European businesses and the growing appetite of international conglomerates for investment opportunities in the region.
“This has been a successful collaboration for Abris, Bogusław Kowalski, Graal and Koral, and we are pleased that we have found the ideal partner in Captain Fresh, which will drive international growth and further consolidation in this sector.”
