Iceland Seafood International (ISI), Iceland, announced plans to merge Icelandic Ibérica and Iceland Seafood Spain into one company to create one strong organization in the Southern European market. Hjörleifur Ásgeirsson will leave his position as managing director of Icelandic Ibérica, and Magnús Jónsson, currently the managing director of Iceland Seafood in Spain, will lead the new combined company.

In 2018, Icelandic Ibérica became part of the ISI group through the acquisition of Solo Seafood. The companies have offices in Malaga, Barcelona and Vigo in addition to multiple smaller sales offices around Spain and Italy, and run production sites in Malaga, Barcelona and Argentina.

“This change is a logical step in our development in Southern Europe,” says Bjarni Ármannsson, chief executive officer of ISI. “I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Magnús Jónsson, who I know will do exceptionally well with his team to develop the new entity in Spain. I very much look forward to support that process and see the company continue to grow. I would also like to express my gratitude to Hjörleifur Ásgeirsson, managing director of Icelandic Iberica. He has truly been a builder of new market, and managed to build in a lifetime a very strong and successful company. He will truly be missed from the daily operations as well as management, as he has been pivotal to the development of Icelandic Iberica.”

“These past 23 years have been very demanding, but at the same time, exciting and giving,” adds Ásgeirsson. “I am proud of the company we have built and very grateful to the fantastic team that has worked on this task together with me. I know the company is at a crossroad, and I felt this would be a good time to step aside. I wish the company and its valuable employees all the best in this new venture.”

“It is a great honor being offered to lead the S-European business of ISI Group,” says Jónsson. “I started as a commercial director in Icelandic Ibérica in 1996, and worked there until I got the opportunity to run the business of Iceland Seafood in Spain in 2006. At that time, the business had recently been formed with the merger of Armengol, Union Islandia and Iceland Seafood. The company was a market leader in salted fish, and under the name of Iceland Seafood, started to increase sales in frozen products. These last 13 years have been intensive and interesting, and I want to thank the team of Iceland Seafood for its great work and achievements during these years.”