Sanford : Confirms Sale of Majority of Pelagic Business to Tauranga Based Family Company

6th December, 2018

Media release

For immediate use

Sanford Confirms Sale of Majority of Pelagic Business to Tauranga Based Family Company

New Zealand seafood company Sanford (SAN) has announced it now has an unconditional agreement to sell its Tauranga based pelagic business to local company Pelco NZ Ltd for a purchase price of NZ$24.3m.

The assets included are three purse seine fishing vessels, processing equipment and pelagic quota in Fisheries Management Area 1.

The conditional sale was announced on November 19th and the deal has been finalised today.

The quota sale reduces Sanford's overall quota holding under New Zealand's Quota Management

System from around 22% to approximately 19% of the total volume available for commercial catch. In value terms, the sale of quota represents 3.75% of the company's quota book value.

A number of jobs in Tauranga are potentially affected by the transition, but Sanford CEO

Volker Kuntzsch has confirmed that talks are already underway with Pelco about the potential for some of the impacted Sanford staff and contractors to find roles at the local Tauranga company.

"We are very pleased that Pelco has already started conversations with our share fishers and some of the Sanford staff who have roles asso ciated with our purse seine vessels. This is great news and we feel very confident that any Sanford contractors or staff who do find work at Pelco will be well looked after."

The decision to sell to Pelco is in line with Sanford's strategy to focus on areas where it can add maximum value.

Volker Kuntzsch says "this sale is a good strategic fit for Sanford and in turn, we believe Pelco is best placed to derive value for New Zealand in this type of fishing."

Pelco founder and Managing Director Andy Rolleston says he is very pleased to confirm the sale deal with Sanford.

"This is a very big step for us and we are really happy to see it go through. The whole process of working through this sale with Sanford happened very quickly and smoothly, which says a lot about the positive relationship we have with each other."

The assets covered by the deal will be transferred to Pelco sometime between March 31st and April 30th, 2019.

***ENDS***

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Fiona MacMillan

GM Corporate Communications [e-mail] [phone]

About Sanford:

Sanford is New Zealand's largest and oldest seafood company. It was first listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1924. It works in both fishing and aquaculture and operates out of 11 New Zealand sites from Stewart Island to Auckland. Sanford is focused on sustainability and innovation and has recently invested in Enzaq, a GreenshellTM mussel powder business and also in developing the technology to extract collagen from hoki skins for use in medical and beauty products.

About Pelco:

Pelco is a privately owned and operated company based in Mount Maunganui. Pelco mainly operates as a fish processing company, but they are also fishers. They are a family run business, started 21 years ago by Andy Rolleston. Pelco has been very focused on bringing employment to the Bay of Plenty. They currently employ around 50 people and pride themselves on having a strong and loyal team who have built the business over many years.

About Pelagics and Purse Seining

Pelagic fish are usually highly mobile species such as jack mackerel and skipjack tuna. Purse seining is a method of fishing which involves targeting these fish when they are schooled in large groups and drawing a net around them in a circle which is then pulled together like a drawstring purse might be. Most pelagic species caught in New Zealand waters are managed under New Zealand's Quota

Management System, which sets strict catch limits to ensure that fish stocks are maintained at sustainable levels.