Cooke’s catch of Stolt Sea Farm may get away

Are they or aren't they? Stolt Sea Farm officials say that negotiations for Cooke Aquaculture of St. George to acquire Stolt's operations in Maine and New Brunswick have ended, but Cooke spokesmen maintain talks are still continuing.

James Stove Lorentzen, the Oslo-based executive director of Marine Harvest, the new company that resulted from the merger of Stolt-Nielsen S.A. and Nutreco Holding N.V., states, "There are no discussions with any party at this time. We are back to business as usual."

Shirley Roach-Albert, who has been vice president of East Coast operations for Stolt, also reports that the talks with Cooke Aquaculture have been terminated.

However, Nell Halse, director of communications for Cooke Aquaculture, says negotiations have not yet been terminated or concluded. "The talks are ongoing," she says, although the negotiations have taken longer than expected. When a letter of intent was signed in April for Cooke Aquaculture to acquire Stolt's east coast farming and processing assets, the sale was expected to be completed before June.

However, Halse acknowledges that Stolt officials told their employees at the St. George processing plant that the sale had fallen through.

On April 29 of this year, Stolt Nielsen and the Dutch company Nutreco merged into a joint venture called Marine Harvest, which is now the world's largest aquaculture company, with over 6,000 employees worldwide. Its head office is located in the Netherlands.

When Cooke announced the signing of a letter of intent to acquire the Stolt assets in Maine and the east coast of Canada, the company noted that salmon farmers have had to become more efficient in order to meet the challenges that have included low prices, worldwide competition, negative publicity, infectious salmon anemia, superchill and the currency difference between Canada and the U.S. At the time, Glenn Cooke, the CEO of Cooke Aquaculture, commented, "Stolt Sea Farm has decided it no longer wishes to deal with these risks."

According to annual reports of Stolt Sea Farm's parent company, Stolt Nielsen S.A. of Luxembourg, the salmon farming company has suffered significant losses since 2000, referring to some years as "a disaster" and losing $316 million in 2003. However, the results for the first half of 2005 were more positive, with Stolt Sea Farm reporting an income from operations of $1.5 million for the second quarter. Its report notes that salmon pricing in the Americas region generally improved. Stolt Sea Farm, which was established in Norway in 1972, has farming operations in Norway, Scotland, Spain, Chile, Canada, Australia and the United States.

According to the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Stolt has eight licensed sites in the province. The Maine Department of Marine Resources lists Stolt as having eight sites in the state. It also has a processing plant in St. George, one hatchery in New Brunswick and one in Maine. Stolt employs approximately 300 workers in its east coast operations.

Heritage acquisition
While the acquisition of Stolt by Cooke Aquaculture is unclear, Cooke has purchased the Canadian east coast and U.S operations of Heritage Salmon, although the transfer of the Maine fish farm leases has not yet been completed. Because the transfer has to go through the regulatory process of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), it has taken longer to be finalized. For the present time, the company will be operating in Maine under the name of Phoenix Salmon. Halse says some Heritage employees have been laid off but not a significant number.

Halse says Cooke will be meeting with the DMR in September to plan for next year and to review the number of fish that the company plans to place into Maine waters.