Dive Brief:
- Thai Union, the largest producer of canned tuna, will buy Bumble Bee for $1.5 billion.
- The deal gives Thai Union enormous power in the U.S. market. Bumble Bee is the second-largest tuna brand here, and Thai Union already owns the third-largest brand, Chicken of the Sea. Starkist, the top-selling brand in the U.S., is owned by South Korea's Dongwon Industries.
- The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Thai Union. Earlier this year it bought European seafood brands King Oscar and MerAlliance.
Dive Insight:
The American market for canned tuna is 100 years old this year. And it's safe to say that, in a global economy marked by mergers and acquisitions, things aren't what the used to be.
Nor, for that matter, is the canned fish business what it was just a year ago. Now it's suddenly the focus of a high-end restaurant in England.