Anova Seafood has reportedly announced to have reached a deal to sell its frozen seafood operations to Seafood Connection owned by Japanese giant Maruha Nichiro. As per trusted sources, the Dutch importer will acquire the company’s frozen seafood business, which includes brands like Anova, Del Mare, and Sea & We as well as the private labeled products. Constant Mulder and Willem Huisman, owners of Anova were quoted saying that the move intends Anova to direct its focus on the international distribution of fresh and chilled seafood starting from January 1. Constant Mulder further stated that Anova will utilize its strengths in the distribution and sales of sustainable and fresh seafood of premium quality in order to provide its consumers with high-quality products. The company sees Anova’s potential to strengthen and grow its position in the fresh and frozen seafood segment, and therefore the company has redirected its strategic focus towards that segment, Mulder added. For the record, Seafood Connection opened an office in the U.S. in 2014, which is reportedly the major European business of Japan’s Maruha Nichiro, the largest seafood company in the world by sales. The firm’s other foreign subsidiaries supply various kinds of seafood like Atlantic salmon, wild-caught salmon, king crabs, octopus, tuna, shrimps, squids and Patagonian toothfish across the world. Jan Kaptijn, CEO of Seafood Connections said in a statement that the company sees a lot of potential after the addition of Anova’s product portfolio to its current business, which will strengthen the company’s position in sales, sourcing, and processing of seafood products. Reportedly, Anova had planned to double its cod volumes by the end of 2016 through an expansion of its Dutch processing unit. The company even invested €3 million over a production line to produce products with cod for Europe’s retail and foodservice customers. As per reports, the company witnessed a turnover of €100 million in 2016, when it had produced a total of 30,000 tons of fish.