Legend Holdings wholly-owned subsidiary Joyvio Group has signed an agreement to acquire 94.47% stake in Chilean salmon farmer Australis Seafoods for $880m.

Joyvio, which has successfully established a domestic and overseas seafood industry presence, will significantly facilitate the comprehensive implementation of its full seafood strategies through the acquisition.

In a statement Joyvio said: “Salmon is the most recognised seafood category for consumers worldwide with high nutritional value, high adaptability in taste and easy to cook. Salmon can be supplied throughout a year, which represents an unparalleled advantage in terms of industry standard, technology leadership and sustainability.

“It is a mandatory food for major retailers and restaurants and the type of seafood with highest operational value. Due to limited breeding farms in the world and licensed operation requirements, the scarcity of the resources of salmon is increasingly obvious.

“The tight balance between global supply and demand makes upstream resources the most valuable link in the whole industry chain.”

Furthermore, the company sees salmon as a potentially huge opportunity in China’s domestic market and internationally.

Joyvio’s existing domestic and overseas presence and resources will generate synergies with Australis in several dimensions and enable the latter to achieve better corporate development.

The signing of the stock purchase agreement is subject to the fulfilment or waiver of all conditions precedent set out in the agreement.

Last year, Australis produced about 64,000t of salmon, representing 9% of total production in Chile.