Tyson to Sell Off Seafood Division

Tyson Foods, Inc. will be selling off its seafood division, Tyson Seafood Group, in two separate transactions scheduled to close simultaneously. The analog business, which includes the manufacture, sales, distribution and marketing of surimi based products under trade names Louis Kemp, Captain Jac, SeaFest and Pacific Mate, is being sold to Bumble Bee Seafoods, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of International Home Foods, Inc. (Parsippany, NJ).

Remaining seafood assets, which include vessels, associated fishing rights and shoreside processing plants, are being sold to TT Acquisition, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Trident Seafoods Corporation of Seattle, WA.

Trident Seafoods runs several processing plants in Alaska and in Washington state, handling salmon, crab and bottomfish. The deal gives Trident the Tyson fishing rights in the billion-dollar Bering Sea bottomfish industry.

The deal, which was announced Friday, ends Tyson's seven-year venture in the fishing industry. Tyson, which lost an estimated $200 million, has been searching for a buyer for months.