Bumble Bee Foods LLC, the canned tuna producer that pleaded guilty to price-fixing, is in talks with seafood industry peer FCF Fishery to buy the company during a bankruptcy reorganization, Bloomberg News reported. Taiwan-based FCF would act as the stalking-horse bidder in a chapter 11 reorganization, which Bumble Bee could file as soon as this week. FCF Fishery, which calls itself the largest tuna supplier in the Western Pacific, has discussed a bid for about $925 million comprised of $275 million of equity and $650 million of debt, one of the people said. The proposal calls for paying down part of Bumble Bee’s existing first-lien debt. San Diego-based Bumble Bee, the largest North American brand of packaged seafood, is planning to file for bankruptcy amid criminal fines and civil lawsuits stemming from a federal price-fixing case. It pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiring with Starkist Co. and Chicken of the Sea Inc. to fix and raise prices of canned tuna in the U.S. from 2011 through at least late 2013. The company also agreed to cooperate with the antitrust investigation. Bumble Bee flagged its financial distress during the case, arguing the $81.5 million fine initially contemplated could push it into insolvency. The U.S. Department of Justice agreed, cutting the amount to $25 million and giving Bumble Bee an installment plan over several years that required no more than $2 million upfront.
