Wenceslas Chancerelle announced that it will purchase its rival Cobreco (Compagnie Bretonne de la Coquilles Saint-Jacques) from its current Italian owner Nuova Castelli. The transaction, for an undisclosed amount, is supposed to be completed within a month.
If the deal is approved, Chancerelle plans to abandon its historic cannery the port of Rosmeur and to eventually move all its activities to the Cobreco facilities.
Cobreco, in the hands of the Italian group Nuova Castelli since 2007, manufactures mainly raw cooked canned tuna and scallops, which are marketed under the brands Arok and Jacq.
The highly automated cannery of Cobreco annually processes 25 million cans of tuna and employs only about 90 people, who together generate an annual turnover of approximately Euro 30 million.
Chancerelle is known in the tuna market for its brand Le Connétable. The company also processes canned sardines.
Chancerelle currently employs 370 people and produces 55 million cans per year. Its annual turnover is about Euro 90 million.
According to Jean Hug François, CEO of Wenceslas Chancerelle, buying Cobreco is “an opportunity to further increase its production capacity.â€
“We are committed to this new investment in France,†he continued.
Over the last decades there has been a steady decline in the number of tuna canneries within France, making this merger a logical cooperation in terms of combining strengths in processing, marketing and distribution.