CAPE TOWN: The fundamentals driving the aquaculture industry globally as well as in Sub-Sahara Africa support the strategic rationale for the transaction. In addition, this partnership introduces the potential for expansion and value addition across the TerraSan business to a level not possible before,” said Sinclair, a partner at EXEO, in a press release on the deal. Terrasan is pleased to welcome Agri-Vie to its fraternity of shareholders. We look forward to their contributions to our company as we strive to expand our investments,” said Mohammad Karaan, executive chairman at Terrasan. TerraSan exhibits exceptional growth prospects which are, in most cases, already in the process of being implemented, said Sinclair.
“TerraSan’s strategic intent is to grow organically by expanding its abalone and mussel production facilities, improving the quality of the bulk fishmeal produced in order to command a higher price for exports and becoming the processing home for the smaller quota holders in the small pelagic fishing industry,” he said. Fishmeal is a major expenditure component for fish producers engaged in aquaculture based predominantly in the northern hemisphere and abalone is a highly sought-after delicacy in Asia, Sinclair said. TerraSan Pelagic Fishery, the group’s 100% owned pelagic arm, is situated in Velddrif on the west coast and owns commercial fishing rights, as well as a fleet of fishing vessels. Also, TerraSan has interests in sardine canning, freezing and fishmeal facilities through the Oranjevis joint venture with Pioneer Fishing Group, also situated in Velddrif. Back in 2015, TerraSan undertook a rights offering to finance the expansion of its aquaculture operations, raising ZAR 95m. TerraSan holds, through its wholly–owned subsidiary Aqunion, extensive investments in abalone farming (Aquafarm, Roman Bay Sea Farm), processing, and feed manufacturing situated in Hermanus and Gansbaai. It also 100% owns Blue Ocean Mussels, a mussel sea farming and processing business situated in Saldana Bay on the west coast, and one of the largest frozen mussel producers in South Africa, supplying a large proportion of the local market. The company is expanding abalone production by around 50%. “When we are done, we will be doing 450t. It takes about four years for the abalone to grow. At the end of this year, we will be at 300t,” he said. All of the abalone is exported to Asia.