Sale Of Worlds Largest Tuna Cannery To Be Completed In 2009ff
2 July 2008
United States Del Monte Foods Company expects the sale of the StarKist brand and its subsidiary the cannery StarKist Samoa – the worlds largest tuna canning operation located in American Samoa - to be completed by September 2009.
The San Francisco based Del Monte announced over the weekend entered into an agreement with South Korean based company, Dongwon, to purchase Starkist for 363 million US dollars.
The sale is subject to a working capital adjustment and regulatory approval and is expected to be completed during the second quarter of Del Monte’s 2009 financial year.
Upon the closing of the deal, all direct plant employees of StarKist Samoa will join Dongwon’s workforce.
The sale of StarKist is expected to generate net after-tax cash proceeds of 300 million and proceeds will be given towards debt reduction.
