Cooke Aquaculture subsidiary Cooke USA this week submitted an offer for bankrupt Uruguayan company Fripur, according to Radio Montecarlo.

Fripur, Uruguay's largest fish processing plant, entered bankruptcy earlier this year, and ended its operations on Aug. 19, in a transaction that resulted in the lay off of 960 workers.

Fripur has sizeable quotas in both Uruguay and Argentina. The company's Uruguayan fleet is made up of 13 vessels, while the Argentinian fleet has three vessels.

Another party is competing with Cooke on the acquisition -- a cooperative formed by 200 ex-employees of Fripur that is proposing to reach a deal with a private company to have a participation in the company.

Cooke