The Hindu Business Line : Marine foods biz sale: Hind Unilever terminates talks with Temptation Foods

Mumbai, Sept. 10 Hindustan Unilever Ltd has terminated its talks with Pune-based frozen foods exporter Temptation Foods Ltd, regarding the sale of its marine foods business, the company today said.

“We were in talks with several parties, including Temptations, for sale or otherwise of our marine division. We mutually agreed to discontinue talks as the talks did not have a successful outcome,” said a company spokesperson.

On March 31, HUL got the board approval for enabling and exploring opportunities in evaluating options of disposing or otherwise of its marine division, and since then, media reports claiming the sale of the same to Temptations have been doing the rounds. As part of this process, Temptation Foods Ltd had submitted a binding bid dated May 11, 2007. The bid was terminated last month. HUL passed this resolution in accordance with its strategy to exit from all non-core business deals, it was reported. It was also reported that HUL sold its seafood processing plant in Andhra Pradesh and shut down operations in Gujarat.

HUL has a presence in over 20 categories of home & personal care products and foods & beverages. The company’s marine food division is the single largest export vertical in the country. Its portfolio of exports consists of surimi, crabsticks, shrimps and several value-added products. Its customers include Icelandic, the world’s largest sea-food company, and it also acts as a supply chain for sea foods to Europe.

Shogun, Hima, Gold Seal and Tara are some of its branded products sold as exports. “The brand is the real value for the company, not the shrimp it sells. So, it is obvious that when we decide to get in to an agreement with any company, branded exports will be discussed,” said the spokesperson.

TFL is a listed company and exports fruits and vegetables to the US, the UK, Europe and West Asia, and makes ready-to-eat foods.

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