POELLATH advises Cooke Group on acquisition of Morubel Group

Morubel’s wild-caught product range includes red shrimp from Argentina, tropical shrimp, vannamei shrimp, crawfish and squid. The company’s aquaculture products include black tiger shrimp, North Sea shrimp, mussels and scallops. The company distributes its organic and frozen products to retail, foodservice and food industry customers in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and France. Morubel was founded in 1954 and acquired in 2014 by Bencis Capital Partners, an independent investment firm with offices in Amsterdam, Brussels and Düsseldorf.

Cooke has diversified operations throughout Europe, as well as global aquaculture production sites in North and Latin America. Globally, Cooke harvests and sells 30% wild-harvested and 70% farmed seafood. The company was recently named one of North America’s top 25 seafood suppliers for sustainability and environmental stewardship.

The transaction volume remains confidential.

POELLATH provided comprehensive legal advice to the buyer on all German law issues with the following team:

• Philipp von Braunschweig (partner, lead, corporate/M&A, Munich).
• Andrea Streifeneder (senior associate, co-lead, corporate/M&A, Munich)
• Dr. Jens Linde (associated partner, financing, Frankfurt)
• David Lübkemeier (associate, corporate/M&A, contract law, Munich)

Lead counsel for Belgian law matters was the Brussels office of Nauta (Louise-Anne Bertin, Didier de Vliegher).