GLOBAL DEAL . . . Macduff Shellfish Group chairman Euan Beaton, left, and managing director Roy Cunningham celebrate the sale of the company for £98.4 million to Canadian-based Clearwater Seafoods
Canadian-based Clearwater Seafoods have agreed to pay £98.4 million to acquire one hundred per cent of the assets of Macduff Shellfish Group.
Based in Mintlaw, near Peterhead, Macduff has factories in Mintlaw, Stornoway and Exeter and owns and operates 14 mid-shore scallop harvesting vessels from its Dumfries facility on Catherinefield Road in the town.
A spokeswoman for Macduff said: “There’s an engineering facility in Dumfries that supports the boats, and the fleet are managed out of Dumfries.
“And in terms of staff numbers there’s 22 people in Dumfries.”
The UK’s largest scallop fishing fleet was previously operated out of Dumfries by Scott Trawlers before being acquired by Macduff, UK’s largest wild caught shellfish processor, in 2012.
Macduff Shellfish Group is now being acquired by Clearwater, who are one of North America’s largest vertically integrated seafood companies.
Addressing the acquisition, Macduff Shellfish chairman Euan Beaton said: “Having reached our goal of building a £52 million business, we had one suitor in mind which shares our vision and values to enable us to accelerate our growth on a global scale.”
He added: “This deal is great news for our operations in the UK, bringing investment
and access to new markets within an extremely successful and respected business.”
Under the deal, Macduff will retain its name and operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clearwater.
Addressing the impact in Dumfries, a spokeswoman for Macduff said: “It’s very much business as usual.”
