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(Reuters) – Spanish bank Abanca on Thursday said it had entered exclusive talks with Canadian firm Cooke Inc regarding the sale of 80% of its stake in fishing firm Nueva Pescanova.
Abanca did not reveal the size of the transaction but said in a statement it would justify a future Nueva Pescanova valuation at around 800 million euros ($881 million).
Nueva Pescanova was founded in 2015 after a group of banks took control of bankrupt firm Pescanova, which had filed for insolvency after auditors uncovered debts of 3.6 billion euros in one of Spain’s biggest bankruptcies at the time.
Abanca now owns a 97.8% of Nueva Pescanova.
Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture Inc is seafood company with salmon and sea bass farms.
Nueva Pescanova would keep its headquarters in Vigo and Abanca would keep 20% of its stake in the company in any deal, the bank said.
($1 = 0.9079 euros)
