Cooke Aquaculture Purchases Feed Plant from Nutreco

Former Shur-Gain goes to Cooke Aquaculture as Nutreco finalizes acquisition of the Canadian Animal Nutrition business from Maple Leaf Foods

July 24, 2007

Cooke Aquaculture Purchases Feed Plant from Nutreco

Nutreco Holding N.V. has completed the acquisition of Canada's leading animal nutrition business from Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Nutreco announced May 22, 2007, that it has signed an agreement to acquire this business. As anticipated, part of the completion is the sale of the fish feed activity to Cooke Aquaculture Inc.

Cooke Aquaculture acquired the former Shur-Gain Aquaculture feed plant in Truro NS from Nutreco, a transaction that is consistent with Cooke’s growth strategy and focus on vertical integration. Over the past twenty-one years the Cooke family has built a $230 million aquaculture company with management over its entire salmon farming value chain – from egg to plate.

“We are very pleased to bring such a significant part of our business into our growing corporate family,” said Glenn Cooke, the Company’s CEO. “This purchase will enable us to supply a significant portion of our corporate feed needs and to internalize some of our feed costs. We also look forward to serving and expanding the existing customer base.”

The Truro feed plant, will add approximately 50 employees to the Cooke family of 1300. The plant is HACCP certified and brings with it a culture of continuous improvement. It is strategically located to serve Cooke’s expanding farming operations in the provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as well as in the State of Maine.

Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is a local, independent family-owned company based in Black’s Harbour NB with a 20-year history in salmon farming and a proven track record in profitability and sound environmental and fish health management. The company sells a broad spectrum of fresh, farmed seafood products into the Canadian and US market.

The acquired business represent sales of approximately CAD 650 million and 2006 earnings before interest and taxes of approximately CAD 47 million, employs over 1,200 people and operates a world-class research and development facility and 18 feed manufacturing facilities across Canada and in New York State.