UNDERCURRENT NEWS — Italy’s Bolton Group International is set to take full control of US-based processor and trader Tri Marine, formally creating an integrated tuna business with turnover of over $2.5 billion, multiple sources in the sector told Undercurrent News.

A deal between Bolton and Tri Marine’s CEO and co-founder Renato Curto is close, according to Undercurrent sources. Bolton -- which controls canned seafood brands such as Rio Mare, Saupiquet and Isabel -- bought just under 50% of Tri Marine in 2013.

Bolton -- whose founder, Joseph Nissim, just passed away aged 100 -- declined to comment to Undercurrent. Tri Marine did not respond to a request for comment.

Undercurrent sources said the deal is unlikely to include all of Tri Marine’s fleet, with its US-flagged purse seine vessels likely to remain under the Curto family’s control.

Tri Marine owns six purse seiners flagged in the US and seven that are Solomon Islands-flagged, which operate in the Pacific and supply into its global trading and supply network. Undercurrent understands Curto will retain control of the US purse seine fleet under the terms of the deal. Jonathan Curto, Renato’s son, and a “sustainability coordinator” at the company is reportedly set to take over management of the vessels as his father steps back, sources said.

The news on Tri Marine over the past year has pointed to absorption by Bolton. In addition to a number of retirements of key people, there have been rumors in the sector for several months that Joe Hamby, the company’s chief operating officer, is also looking to retire.

Loose ends on the company’s assets have also been tied up. In addition to the sale of the California wetfish plant, Tri Marine did a deal with StarKist & Co. for a ten-year lease of its ill-fated Samoa Tuna Processors (STP) plant. StarKist, owned by South Korea’s Dongwon Enterprise, already has a plant in American Samoa, in Pago Pago.

The STP cannery, located in Atu’u, American Samoa, had been closed in December 2016, with 800 workers laid-off. Tri Marine had spent a massive sum of money renovating the plant with the plan to sell "made in America" tuna into the US market.

Read more at Undercurrent News