Sea Harvest is best known for its eponymous hake brand, which is a market leader in the local frozen fish category.
Ratheb said the Ladismith Cheese acquisition offered Sea Harvest a profitable branded fast moving consumer goods manufacturer of significant scale.
“It’s not that different from fishing. Both companies are involved in processing, and we understand flow lines and yields. The customers are also similar,” he said.
Ratheb said that the dairy sector was expected to see growing demand for cheese and butter as consumer dietary habits changed towards natural fat products.
The proposed Ladismith deal will be settled in cash, but Sea Harvest intends undertaking a vendor placement of up to R300m worth of its shares with majority shareholder Brimstone to part fund the transaction.
Sea Harvest indicated that the new shares would be placed with Brimstone at about R14 per share.