South African fishing company Sea Harvest recently announced a 19.9 percent acquisition of Australia’s ASX-listed Mareterram, making it the company’s largest shareholder.

Sea Harvest has more than a 40 percent volume share in the local frozen fish sector and employs more than 2 400 people.

Mareterram is a vertically integrated agri-business with operations encompassing Nor-West Seafoods and Craig Mostyn.

“The investment in Mareterram allows Sea Harvest to diversify its earnings away from a single specie hake resource and gives us a firm foothold to increase our market share and presence in Australia in a hard currency,” Sea Harvest chief executive Felix Ratheb said.