From Cordova Times
By Margie Bauman
June 26, 2015
Paine & Partners, a global private equity firm in food and agribusiness, announced June 26 plans to sell Icicle Seafoods to Convergence Holdings Inc. and Dominion Catchers LLC.
The deal is anticipated to close in August, subject to customary closing and regulatory conditions, Paine & Partners said in a news release.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
W. Dexter Paine III, chairman and chief executive officer of Paine & Partners, said that his company used its investments and expertise in the seafood industry to accelerate Icicle’s growth and help the company achieve its business goals.
“In Convergence and Dominion, the company will continue to have owners that will work with its management and employees to build on its successes,” Paine said.
Icicle Seafoods’ core business is in the primary processing of wild salmon, pollock, halibut, cod, sablefish and herring in most major fisheries in Alaska, with three processing vessels, near Dutch Harbor, in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.
Icicle also has short plans at Petersburg, Seward, Egegik, Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island, at Wood River, near Dillingham. There are 11 catcher vessels in Icicle’s fleet, according to the company website. Nine of those vessels trawl primarily for pollock and cod. One vessel fishes crab and the last is used exclusively as a tender for salmon, pollock and cod.
New York based Paine & Partners also has offices in Chicago and California.
Convergence Holdings and Dominion Catchers both have offices in Florida.
Dominion Catchers registered with the Alaska Department of Commerce on May 15 as a domestic limited liability company, and has six months from that date to complete its initial report, a commerce department spokesperson said.
Convergence is the latest company established by the Indonesia-based Soetantyo family, which has extensive investments in the food and canning industries in Asia and North America.
According to a spokesperson for the Soetantyo family, who was not identified, Convergence “sees an opportunity to synergize Icicle with our group operations in Indonesia. Though this acquisition, we are accessing a high-quality seafood resource with leading fish and processing capabilities.
“The synergy between Icicle and our Indonesian operations with drive future growth and help us better serve our customers in North America, Southeast Asia and worldwide,” the spokesperson said.
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