Thai Union Frozen Products TUF is set to become one of the world's biggest seafood companies after agreeing to buy France's MW Brands for 680 million $884 million from Trilantic Capital Partners.
The new company will dominate worldwide sales of tuna. MW Brands sells more than 300 million of tuna a year in Europe, mostly in the UK and France under the John West and Petit Navire brands. The company, which booked total sales of 448 million in 200809, also has leading market positions in Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.
TUF is even bigger. Half of its $2 billion of sales in 2009 came from the US, mostly through its Chicken of the...