Carrokeel sold to smaller rival Carr’s

CARROKEEL Seafoods, founded by Corkman Brendan Chambers, has been sold to its smaller rival William Carr & Sons.

Although the price of the deal was not disclosed yesterday, it will net millions for Mr Chambers, who owns the majority of Carrokeel, and ICC Bank, which is the only other shareholder.

The company, set up by Mr Chambers in 1987, has two production facilities in Killala, Co Mayo, where 85 people are employed. Mr Chambers said he expected 30 jobs to be created following the takeover.

Carrokeel supplies all of the major supermarket chains in Ireland with salmon, fish and mussels, and exports around 70% of its production to the US, Britain, Europe and Asia.

Mr Chambers said the decision to sell to Carr’s was taken as the industry was consolidating and that small producers needed to increase in size if they were to sell Irish seafood abroad.

“I’ve been on government advisory committees and we have been told to get bigger. There are a lot of quite big seafood companies in Ireland, but internationally they are small so there will have to be consolidation.

"We were talking with [Carr’s] about a closer relationship about a year ago and they decided they would prefer to buy. We have two state-of-the-art factories and it will be a nice combination.”

He added that Carr’s was smaller than Carrokeel, which has annual turnover of around €8 million. Carr’s is a family-owned business, started in 1947, and is based in Mallow.

The takeover does not involve Chamco, an overseas sales and marketing company owned by Bishopstown-born Mr Chambers. He said Chamco will now conduct all overseas marketing for Carrokeel and will look to expand further.

“I have five people at the moment and obviously I will look to grow the business,” he said.

“I think the seafood industry will change and you will have the production and marketing companies.”