November 20, 2019 — A “stalking horse” bidder, said to be an industry player, is lined up for Bumble Bee Foods if — or when, according to some executives — the company goes into US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, sources told Undercurrent News.
A Chapter 11 filing is seen as highly likely for the beleaguered shelf-stable seafood giant, driven by the lack of a settlement with the litigants in the civil lawsuits against the Lion Capital-owned company over its tuna price fixing, sources said. This comes as Chris Lischewski, the long-time CEO of Bumble Bee, is on trial in San Francisco, California for allegedly leading the price-fixing.
Undercurrent was unable to identify the stalking horse bidder, but Bolton Group International, Canadian Fishing Company (Canfisco), Cooke and Mitsubishi Corp. are four trade players who are said to have looked at all or parts of the business before.
Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF), the Taiwanese tuna giant, is already a 22% shareholder in Bumble Bee and Itochu, the Japanese trading house, was also tipped by some tuna sector sources as a possible interested party.