This from The Baltimore Sun
The man who controls the corporation that owns Omega Protein wants out of the menhaden fishing business.
Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the one-time soccer powerhouse Manchester United, has announced he wants to sell his 60 percent
share of Omega.
The company that produces heart-healthy omega-3 fish oil and animal feed lost $6.1 million in the third quarter this year. Omega had an operating loss of $8.2 million over the first nine months of the year.
After two lousy years of fishing, the company's fortunes took another hit this summer when Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf and battered its processing plants.
Glazer, a nincompoop if ever there was one, paid $1.5 billion this year to take control of the soccer club, which promptly turned around and fell out of contention for the annual European soccer tournament for the first time in a decade.
Sponsors fled. Bills came due.
Glazer first sold his interest in an airbag manufacturer (it takes one to know one, Malcolm) for $51.2 million and now wants to unload Omega, the Chicago Cubs of commercial fishing.
Why should anyone here care?
Well, Glazer has to find a taker. The logical buyer might be a competitor, such as Cargill Foods or Archer Daniels Midland. But you can't rule out the possibility that the cash-strapped Glazer might sell off the company piecemeal. And that might put the Reedville, Va., plant in play.
Although Reedville turns out twice as much fish oil as any of Omega's other plants, there's the pesky matter of a looming five-year cap on the amount of menhaden that the company's fleet can scoop from Chesapeake Bay.
A showdown is likely between the regional regulatory board that imposed the cap and the Virginia legislature, which has to approve regulations. If lawmakers fail to act, the U.S. Commerce Secretary could shut down the whole Chesapeake Bay menhaden fishery.
Ken Hinman, president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, has written to Gov.-elect Tim Kaine to urge compliance, but with an agenda full
of campaign promises to fulfill, menhaden isn't likely to be a front-burner issue.
What Omega suitor would want that baggage? Maybe Glazer's best bet is to sell the Gulf Coast fish business intact and find someone else for the waterfront property on Virginia's historic Northern Neck.