MG Kailis sells to Sea Harvest Australia
Iconic WA fishing industry brand, MG Kailis Group has agreed to sell its WA fishing assets to Sea Harvest Marine Pty Ltd, including its Exmouth fishing, seafood trading and Kailis Marine businesses in Fremantle.
Under the deal, Sea Harvest Australia will retain the MG Kailis operational management and supervisory teams and will integrate these with its other fishing businesses at the MG Kailis primary premises in the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour, where the Sea Harvest head office and marine operations will be based. As part of this, Alex Kailis will be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Sea Harvest Australia when the transaction is completed.
The MG Kailis Group’s Kailis Jewellery and Queensland Tropical Rock Lobster businesses are not included in the sale and will continue to be owned and operated by the MG Kailis family. The MG Kailis Group will also be retaining its property interests, including its former “K-Town” prawn processing site in Learmonth, which it plans to redevelop into a tourism complex.
Sea Harvest Australia is a vertically integrated seafood company based in WA. Sea Harvest’s core business is the fishing and processing of prawns, crabs, and scallops in Shark Bay, where it operates 11 vessels. The company has a further three Spanish Mackerel vessels fishing in the Kimberley and Pilbara region of Western Australia and is an importer and distributor of a variety of seafood products that it markets nationally in Australia.
The completion of the transaction remains conditional on several regulatory and other approvals. Until then, MG Kailis remains the owner and will continue to operate the business in its current form.