Cooke Inc. → Tassal Group Limited
completedCanadian seafood company Cooke Inc. agreed to acquire 100% of ASX-listed Tassal Group — Australia's largest vertically integrated salmon and prawn producer — for A$5.23 cash per share via a Scheme Implementation Deed, representing a total enterprise value of approximately A$1.7 billion (equity value commonly cited around A$1.1-1.2 billion). The offer represented a 49% premium to Tassal's closing share price on June 22, 2022. Tassal shareholders overwhelmingly approved the scheme on November 3, 2022 (96.56% in favor), and the deal completed November 21, 2022.
Cooke, a large family-owned global seafood company, sought entry into the Australian market and the acquisition made it the world's fifth-largest farmed salmon producer, diversifying its geographic footprint and species mix (salmon and prawns) and adding Tassal's vertically-integrated production, processing and branded-retail capability. It was described as the largest acquisition in Cooke's history.
Tassal's board initially rejected an earlier, lower non-binding proposal from Cooke but ultimately recommended the improved A$5.23/share cash offer (a 49% premium) as delivering superior, certain value to shareholders compared to Tassal continuing as a standalone ASX-listed company facing capital-intensive growth needs and biological/climate risk in salmon farming.
Tassal shares rose sharply on news of Cooke's interest and again on the improved offer — up as much as ~13.85% at points during the process — trading up toward the implied offer price after the binding Scheme Implementation Deed was announced in August 2022.
Covered as a landmark deal taking Tassal from a publicly-listed ASX company to a privately held subsidiary, and as a sign of continued global consolidation in farmed salmon, with Cooke's entry into Australia seen as a major strategic expansion for the Canadian company.
Deal mechanics
Not disclosed in available sources
Goldman Sachs (financial advisor to Tassal); Herbert Smith Freehills (legal advisor to Tassal)
Scheme of arrangement; 100% cash consideration of A$5.23 per Tassal share; total enterprise value approximately A$1.7 billion including assumed debt.
Cooke obtained Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval ahead of the shareholder vote. Tassal shareholders approved the scheme (96.56% in favor) on November 3, 2022; Federal Court approval followed, with completion on November 21, 2022.
Not disclosed in available sources (reported by some outlets as financed via bank/financial-institution debt facilities).