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Talseth Joins New York Fund Eyeing More Seafood Investments

August 17, 2015
Source
The Undercurrent

Norwegian seafood banker Thor Arne Talseth has relocated to the US and joined a New York-based investment group looking at more deals in seafood and aquaculture.

Talseth -- who left Arctic Securities last year for a new investment firm, Neptune Partners -- has joined AMERRA Capital Management, an agri-focused asset manager. He has taken a role as a portfolio manager of Amerra’s private equity fund.

“I will continue to focus on investing in the international seafood and aquaculture industry,” Talseth told Undercurrent News.

AMERRA plans to invest in seafood in the Americas and Europe “with complementary private equity and debt strategies”. Neptune has been absorbed into AMERRA, said Talseth.

The combination of offering debt and private equity focused on seafood and aquaculture is unique, he said.

“Also, being able to invest in seafood but have the context around you of what is going on in the rest of the agri-business space” is also a major attraction of new position, he told Undercurrent.

The focus will be on upstream and mid-stream investments, he said.

AMERRA has made debt investments in shrimp operations in Latin America and also in Umami Sustainable Seafood's Mexican subsidiary Baja Aqua Farms, but the hiring of Talseth is part of a strategy to up focus on the sector.

The investment firm did not have anyone dedicated to seafood until the hiring of Talseth, he said.

AMERRA was founded in 2009 and manages assets worth approximately $ 1.4 billion.  Since inception, Amerra has invested over $2.5bn in the agribusiness supply chain.

According to a report from the Oakland Institute, M.D. Sass-Macquarie Financial Strategies LP established the AMERRA.

AMERRA is a private equity joint-venture between M.D. Sass, a closely held investment manager based in New York, and the Macquarie Group, a global financial conglomerate headquartered in Australia and one of the top managers of farmlands globally, according to the report.