All 170 jobs at Pickenpack's processing plant in Riepe will be secured through the takeover by Seattle-based giant Trident, administrator Friedrich von Kaltenborn-Stachau of Hamburg-based law firm Böge Rohde Luebbehuesen (BRL), said in an update Tuesday.

Trident will officially take over the plant in July this year. The deal is still pending regulatory approval.

"I am very glad that we succeeded selling the plant in Riepe to Trident Seafoods in what is a very competitive market," von Kaltenborn-Stachau said.

However, the closure of the processing plant in Luneburg by the end of June is now certain, he said.

"The plant closure in Lüneburg was and is very bitter but unavoidable," he said. "We have, together with management, unions, representatives of the region and staff worked very hard to keep the location open.

"However, we were unable to prevent the loss of about 400 jobs in the region due to the financial losses and a lack of investor interest in the location," he said.

Almost the entire workforce in Lüneburg has accepted a transfer to a transfer company.

Production will cease at the end of June 2016, following which the dismantling of the plant will take place.

Von Kaltenborn-Stachau is currently in talks with two investors, who are close to sign a deal to take over the property following the plant's closure.

The affiliated Pickenpack plant in Gelmer, France, was sold to Greenland Seafood in March this year.

A legal dispute at parent company Pacific Andes as well as its inability to pay invoices were named as the main factors for Pickenpack entering voluntary bankruptcy proceedings in December 2015, in addition to rising raw material prices and squeezed margins in the German frozen whitefish market.

Von Kaltenborn-Stachau was appointed as the administrator of Pickenpack last year, while Ernst & Young were hired as M&A advisors.

Pacific Andes owns a 19 percent stake in Pickenpack. In 2014, Pickenpack closed one production line at its Luneburg factory and transferred production to a facility in Riepe, which Pacific Andes and other investors bought from Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) in the year prior.

The Chinese giant indirectly holds 19 percent of TST, which was established in 2012 by Nissui and Baldvinsson, the former CEO of Icelandic Group and Pickenpack.

Read also:

New owners ready to 'stop bleeding' at Gelmer

Have German price wars gone too far?

--

For more seafood news and updates, follow us on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our daily newsletter