Sanford buys Sealord marine farms for $23.4m

Sealord is selling marine farms in the Marlborough Farms to Sanford for $23.4 million.

The package includes about 240ha of water space and equipment for growing mussels and spat.

Spat growing on the farms and the young crop forecast to be harvested from July 2010 onwards is also included in the deal.

The price does not include crop on the farms that will be ready for harvest in the coming 12 months.

A joint announcement today by Sanford and Sealord said Sanford would buy that crop when it was ready for harvest.

Sanford said the marine farms would add to its existing farms in the Marlborough Sounds, giving it access to increased space to grow greenshell mussels of about 5000 tonnes a year.

The purchase of the Sealord farms would help throughput at an automated mussel opening machine line in Havelock, developed by Sanford, almost double within three years.

Sealord said the sale of its farms in the Marlborough Sounds freed up capital for investment in other areas. It would concentrate on developing its extensive mussel farm holdings in Tasman Bay and in the Coromandel.

The two companies said the deal reflected a closer working relationship developed over recent years between them.

A toll mussel processing company in Tauranga -- North Island Mussel Processing -- developed by the two was undergoing a $23m upgrade which included automated mussel opening machines.

The companies said they had also agreed on cooperative catching arrangements for orange roughy and dory o n the Chatham Rise, resulting in increased catching and processing efficiencies that had benefited both companies.

- NZPA