Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co Ltd, the country's largest prawn exporter, is seeking merger and acquisition opportunities overseas to boost its global presence.

"If there are appropriate opportunities we will go to great lengths to get the deal done," said Li Zhong, chairman of the company.

In 2012, Guolian purchased SSC in the United States and established its own brand and marketing channel.

The acquisition boosted the company's business performance. Sales by Guolian's US company hit $300 million last year. The company's net profit reached 56 million yuan ($9.3 million) last year.

"To diversify the business portfolio, the company will actively seek M&A opportunities in the world this year," Li said.

The company's globalization strategy will not only increase sales but also help the company get better resources and diversify product lines, according to Li.

Guolian's sales value reached more than 2.2 billion yuan, from which nearly 60 percent was from overseas markets.

"The culture difference remains the biggest challenge for a Chinese company to manage an overseas acquisition," said Li.

To ensure smooth operations after the acquisition, Guolian maintained all management of the acquired US company and hired local staff. That strategy proved to be successful as the company became the largest shrimp supplier in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Guolian is also striving to transform itself from a processing-oriented company to be a trading-based one.

Li said transformation efforts helped the company achieve a net profit of 16 million yuan in the first quarter, which was usually a low season for the aquatic industry.

According to the company's financial statement the figure was up 284.3 percent year-on-year and marked the first time the company gained money in the first three months of a year in the past decade.

Expected domestic increase

As well as aggressive overseas expansion, Li said he would like to further increase domestic sales to half of overall sales in the future.

Li said the adjustment would help diversify risks geographically.

After Europe's economy suffered a recession in 2012, Ecuador and Thailand exported many more shrimps to the US, which brought down prices and hit Guolian's business performance.

The company lost 226 million yuan in 2012, while it earned 11.7 million yuan in 2011.

"Besides this, we are quite confident in the domestic consumption market, especially the market potential of counties," said Li.