Unión Martín, with headquarters and processing facilities in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has experienced significant growth in recent years.

Unión Martín acquires stake in Mauritanian fishing company

SPAIN
Thursday, December 05, 2019, 01:10 (GMT + 9)

Unión Martín Group, a company owned by Alantra Private Equity, a specialist in seafood products with special relevance in octopus, squid and cuttlefish, has completed the purchase of a significant stake in the Mauritanian fishing company Societé Mauritanienne pour la Pêche Industrielle (SMPI), which has three freezer vessels and a fishing capacity of 700 tons per year.

As a fundamental part of the agreement, its Mauritanian partner and manager, Mohamed Lemine Laroussi, retains a stake and continues to lead the company's management.

Unión Martín already had exclusive agreements for the supply of raw material captured by SMPI, so this acquisition will allow it to seize the margin generated by the owner in origin. After this operation, Unión Martín reinforces its strategy of vertical integration and its positioning at origin, key to a category with growing international demand such as cephalopods.

Together with its other two subsidiaries Palma Pesca (four freezer vessels) and Fine Fishing (three freezer vessels), Unión Martín now controls a fleet of ten vessels in total at the FAO 34 fishing ground (Morocco and Mauritania).

Additionally, UM has several exclusive marketing agreements with shipowners in Morocco, as well as collaboration agreements with three processing plants managed by local partners in Mauritania.

The acquisition of SMPI is part of the new strategic plan agreed upon after the incorporation in June 2018 of Alantra Private Equity as a partner in the shareholders of Unión Martín, and represents the third such operation carried out by the Group, since in September 2018 completed the acquisition of Fine Fishing and in 2014 that of Palma Pesca.

Unión Martín, with headquarters and processing facilities in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and commercial offices in the Peninsula, has experienced significant growth in recent years, exceeding 10,000 tons of product sold.

With more than 20 years of history, Unión Martín has established itself as one of the national references in the capture, processing and commercialization of seafood products with FAO 34 origin and strong specialization in cephalopods. Most of its turnover corresponds to the national market, where it sells to the wholesale channel, Horeca and Mercadona in the Canary Islands. In addition, the Group has managed to increase the customer base and the volume of exports, which currently amount to 20% of sales. Unión Martín products are sold in countries such as Italy, Greece, the United States, Japan, China and Uruguay.

During the last year and a half, since the incorporation of Alantra Private Equity as a partner of Unión Martín, the Group has focused on redesigning and strengthening the management structure with the incorporation of a new CEO, CFO and several commercials, as well as in implementing internal management control systems.

Alantra Private Equity plans for Unión Martín go through further strengthening the company's original positioning by incorporating a new fleet as well as increasing its transformative capacity to improve its service and expand the product catalog to its customers. Alantra Private Equity also plans to continue supporting the international expansion plan of Unión Martín, one of the company's main growth pillars for the coming years, as well as continuing to strengthen its management and institutionalization.
 

Source: Interempresas

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