Escotet: The liquidation and division of Pescanova was something contrary to our values

In mid-April, Abanca announced the opening of exclusive negotiations with the Canadian fishing group Cooke za sell 80% of their stake in Nueva Pescanova (out of a total of 97.8% that it controls). The sale process continues its course until the closing of the operation next June, with no further comment from either party. Although Juan Carlos Escotet, president of the Galician entity, used his participation in the Banking Forum organized by IESE on Wednesday to explain this movement. “The decision on Pescanova was taken conscientiously from the beginning”he said, clarifying that the liquidation alternative was never on the table. “A sort of rescue had to be done because the funds said the way to give more value to their participation was to liquidate and split the company, but that was against our values,” he admitted.

Escotet explained that Abanca decided to take control of the Galician fishing company to try to save 12,000 jobs in the company, a company he described as “strategic for Galicia”. He reminded that the entity said from the beginning that the takeover of Peščanova was temporary. “We said the way to create value is to find an industrial partner, which in this case was Cooke.”

As for the sale, he explained that “it is a complementary acquisition, it retains the business.” Nueva Pescanova becomes part of one of the world’s largest fishing conglomerates, if not the oldest”. He explained that this contract “is not a mandatory decision, it is a reasoned decision from the first day, the result of disinvestment, which we announced from the beginning that we would do.”