High Liner Foods of Lunenburg has struck a deal to purchase Icelandic Groups U.S. and Asian processing plants. The transaction is valued at roughly 230.6 million dollars U.S. High Liner's Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, Kelly Nelson says the Icelandic stakeholders were worried about a couple of things..one, their worldwide brand of the parent company of the assets, which is Icelandic Seafood. Nelson says High Liner was able to come up with very creative ways of licensing the brands for a long period of time as well as developing a distribution agreement to make sure that the Icelandic harvesters continue to get access to the U.S. market. The acquisition includes Icelandic USA's processing plant in Newport News, Virginia, as well as subsidiaries that operate a processing plant in China and procure product from other Asian countries. High Liner is acquiring several brands in connection with the acquisition and has agreed to a seven-year royalty-free licensing agreement with Icelandic Group for the use of the Icelandic Seafood™ brand in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The transaction is expected to be completed later this year or during the first quarter of 2012.
