Talley's lands whole of Amaltal

Neither vendor Douglas Goodfellow, above, nor buyer Michael Talley will give details of the Amaltal deal. Picture / Fotopress

Auckland's Goodfellow family has sold a 50 per cent stake in New Zealand's third largest fishing company, Amaltal, to 50:50 joint-venture partner Talley's Fisheries, of Motueka.

The deal was done just before Christmas but not publicised.

The vendor was Amalgamated Marketing, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Dairies, an investment vehicle of the Douglas Goodfellow family.

The sale price has not been disclosed but conservative estimates within the fishing industry start in the tens of millions of dollars.

The parting of the ways comes 22 years after Amaltal was launched in Nelson.

It also comes two months after a High Court judge found Amaltal liable to pay $6.1 million for deceiving a joint-venture partner, Japanese company Maruha, over tax issues.

Amaltal says it is appealing the decision.

The judgment included adverse comments on the evidence of Talley's director Michael Talley and led to speculation as to whether the case had caused friction between Amalgamated and Talley's.

However, Bill Preston, a director of the Amalgamated companies and also of Amaltal, yesterday insisted the parting with Talley's was "completely amicable".

He said Amalgamated was "just reorganising our investments".

Those include a major shareholding in the listed fishing company Sanford and interests in Australian chemical company Nufarm and trade finance company SH Lock.

In line with Douglas Goodfellow's well-known liking for privacy, Preston would not say more.

Michael Talley was just as sparing with detail.

He confirmed the deal had been done but would say nothing more.

"It's a private transaction in a private company."

Amaltal's assets include:

* A 7 per cent share of the country's fishing quota, according to the Ministry of Fisheries. (Amaltal's website claims a 10 per cent share.)

* A 17 per cent share of the hoki quota, according to Amaltal's website.

* A fleet of 60m-and-longer freezer trawlers.

* Nelson waterfront land and facilities.

The deal comes as the fishing industry faces challenges including the strong kiwi dollar, high fuel costs and a cut to the hoki quota.

The deal is part of a series of moves altering ownership of the biggest players in the fishing industry. The two biggest, Sanford and Sealord, announced merger talks last March.

They were called off in April for reasons that remain unclear.

In October last year, Sanford announced a $137 million deal to buy assets including fishing quota and boats from Simunovich Fisheries.