Nissui Group has bolstered its processed foods category through the acquisition of Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan-based Musashino Foods.
The transaction occurred on 30 April 2024 via share transfer and was announced by the Japanese seafood conglomerate on 8 May.
Musashino Foods specializes in frozen sliced sushi products, and Nissui said the acquisition is targeted at improving growing demand for value-added products, and sushi and sashimi in particular.
“Taking advantage of this acquisition, Nissui will utilize its production capabilities to begin producing products for raw consumption, such as sushi ingredients, using Nissui's domestic and international farmed fish and wild fish,” it said in in a statement.
Nissui is shifting its organizational structure, and Musashino’s processing facility will serve as its production base for processed seafood products for raw consumption.
“As a first step, we will collaborate with a salmon farming business in Hirota Bay in the same prefecture and city to produce raw edible products from the fish caught after June of this year, with the aim of developing this into one of our main businesses in the future,” it said.
Musashino Foods, which also has offices in Osaka and Hokkaido, has 51 employees, all of whom will continue to be employed by Nissui following the transaction, it said.
In its 2023 integrated report, Nissui set the goal of achieving JPY 1 trillion (USD 6.7 billion, EUR 6.2 billion) in total sales and JPY 50 billion (USD 333 million, EUR 308 million) in operating profit by 2030, with 50 percent of net sales coming from outside Japan. To do so, Nissui has allocated JPY 20 billion (USD 133 million, EUR 123 million) for acquisitions and JPY 120 billion (USD 800 million, EUR 740 million) for improving its food processing capacity and capabilities.
In March 2024, Nissui Europe announced it will be investing in two private equity funds targeting the agriculture and food sector in Africa.
Both funds are run by private equity firm Amethis to invest in African mid-cap companies and European small- and medium-sized enterprises focused on economic development in Africa.
“Nissui has been accelerating global business expansion under its long-term vision ‘Good Foods 2030,’ [and] we have come to recognize the seafood and food markets of African countries, where rapid population growth and economic growth are expected in the future as a potential strategic move toward further long-term growth,” Nissui Europe said in a release. “We will explore business opportunities by accessing useful information in a timely manner through investment in the funds and collaboration with Amethis.”
