Online seafood firm Captain Fresh has acquired CenSea Inc, a US-based frozen fish and seafood importer and distributor, the former’s founder and chief executive Utham Gowda told ET.
Gowda did not disclose the deal value, but said that his firm was fully acquiring CenSea in a cash-and-stock deal, with 90% of the consideration paid in cash. CenSea, which has a pan-US presence, will become the “mainstay” of Captain Fresh’s US business, he added.
“On the supply side, India and Southeast Asia form a substantial part of CenSea’s mix with multi-decade relationships with more than 100 factory partners in these supply markets… on the demand side we are excited about the potential to cross-sell to their existing customers,” Gowda said.
The buyout of the 40-year-old American firm is part of a wider foray by Captain Fresh to expand from just exporting seafood, and into distribution in markets like the US and Europe, and follows the recent purchase of French shrimp distributor Senecrus.
The firm is now engaged in more acquisition talks in the “European market which allows us entry into the North Atlantic supply markets,” Gowda said, without giving further details.
On February 16, ET reported that Captain Fresh had raised $25 million in a funding round led by UK government-backed British International Investment (BII) and Andhra Pradesh-based Nekkanti Seafoods Group. The funding was part of a larger $48 million extended funding round at a $500 million valuation, out of which $20 million had already been raised by the firm in September last year.
Over the next two to three months, the firm would see over 50% of its business coming from the US market, compared to 25-30% earlier, with about 80-85% of its total business coming from the European and US markets, Gowda had told ET at the time.
About 2-3% of the firm’s business comes from India. In September last year, Gowda had said international markets helped the company command over 15-20% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation-level (ebitda) margins, versus a 3% ebitda-level margin in India.
Source: Economic Times