Reference is made to the press release from Salmon Evolution Holding AS (“Salmon Evolution” or the “Company”) published on 1 September 2020 regarding a contemplated private placement and admission to trading on Merkur Market.
The Company is pleased to announce that the Private Placement (as defined below) has been successfully placed through the allocation of 100 million shares (the “New Shares”) at a price of NOK 5.00 per share (the “Subscription Price”), raising gross proceeds of NOK 500 million (the “Private Placement”).
The Private Placement attracted very strong interest from Norwegian, Nordic and international high-quality institutional investors and was more than 9 times oversubscribed excluding shares pre-allocated to cornerstone investors. Three cornerstone investors subscribed for and were allocated New Shares for NOK 170 million: (i) DNB Asset Management AS: NOK 110 million/ 22 million New Shares; (ii) Klaveness Marine Finance AS: NOK 30 million/ 6 million New Shares; and (iii) companies controlled by Fredrik Cappelen, Carl Erik Krefting and Preben Rasch-Olsen: NOK 30 million / 6 million New Shares. Furthermore, certain existing shareholders in the Company subscribed for and were collectively allocated approximately 16 million New Shares at the Subscription Price for approximately NOK 82 million.
The net proceeds from the Private placement will be used to partly fund the first construction phase of the Company’s land based salmon farming facility at Indre Harøy, further develop the project and for general corporate purposes.
Members of the Company’s management and board, as well as certain other large shareholders, have entered into customary lock-up arrangements with the Managers (as defined below) that will restrict, subject to certain exceptions, their ability to, without the prior written consent of the Managers, sell or dispose of shares, as applicable, for a period of twelve or six months, respectively.
Completion of the Private Placement is subject to (i) the corporate resolutions of the Company required to implement the Private Placement, including the Company’s Board of Directors’ resolution to proceed with the Private Placement and the approval from an extraordinary general meeting in the Company to be called for as soon as possible after the application period has closed, (ii) payment being received for the New Shares, and (iii) registration in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises of the share capital increase in the Company pursuant to the Private Placement.
The Company will have 219,731,088 shares outstanding following the Private Placement.
Allocation to investors will be communicated on or about 4 September 2020. The Private Placement is expected to be settled by the Managers on a delivery-versus-payment basis on or about 18 September 2020 following the registration of the new share capital in the Norwegian Registry of Business Enterprises and the issuance of the new shares in VPS. The delivery-versus-payment settlement in the Private Placement is facilitated by a pre-funding agreement between the Company and the Managers.
The Company has applied for, and expects, subject to the conditions for completion of the Private Placement being fulfilled and necessary approvals from the Oslo Stock Exchange, having its shares admitted to trading on Merkur Market. The first day of trading on Merkur Market is expected to be shortly after completion of the Private Placement and is currently anticipated to be on or about 18 September 2020.
Advisors
The Company has appointed DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, and Pareto Securities AS to act as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in the Private Placement and Sparebank 1 Markets AS as Joint Bookrunner. Advokatfirmaet BAHR AS is acting as legal advisor to the Company, while Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS is acting as legal advisor to the Managers.
For more information, please contact:
Håkon André Berg, CEO (+47 411 92 257)
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy, fairness or completeness. None of the Managers or any of their respective affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisors or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for, or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this announcement (or whether any information has been omitted from the announcement) or any other information relating to the Company, its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available, or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. This announcement has been prepared by and is the sole responsibility of the Company.
Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein is for publication, distribution or release, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, South Africa or any other jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The publication, distribution or release of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
This announcement does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for any securities referred to in this announcement to any person in any jurisdiction, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong or South Africa or any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.
The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company do not intend to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.
Any offering of the securities referred to in this announcement will be made by means of a set of subscription materials provided to potential investors. Investors should not subscribe for any securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information contained in the aforementioned subscription material.
In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the EU Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression “EU Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State).
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are Qualified Investors and that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.
This announcement is made by, and is the responsibility of, the Company. The Managers and their affiliates are acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Private Placement. They will not regard any other person as their respective clients in relation to the Private Placement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company, for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.
In connection with the Private Placement, the Managers and any of their affiliates, acting as investors for their own accounts, may subscribe for or purchase shares and in that capacity may retain, purchase, sell, offer to sell or otherwise deal for their own accounts in such shares and other securities of the Company or related investments in connection with the Private Placement or otherwise. Accordingly, references in any subscription materials to the shares being issued, offered, subscribed, acquired, placed or otherwise dealt in should be read as including any issue or offer to, or subscription, acquisition, placing or dealing by, such Managers and any of their affiliates acting as investors for their own accounts. The Managers do not intend to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligations to do so.
Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as “believe”, “aims”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intends”, “estimate”, “will”, “may”, “continue”, “should” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. The Company, each of the Managers and their respective affiliates expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, review or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice.
The Private Placement and the contemplated admission to trading on Merkur Market may be influenced by a range of circumstances, such as market conditions, and there is no guarantee that the conditions for completion of the Private Placement be fulfilled and that the admission to trading on Merkur Market will occur.
This announcement is for information purposes only. It does not purport to be complete, and it is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities of the Company. Neither the Managers nor any of their respective affiliates accepts any liability arising from the use of this announcement. The Company and the Managers, and their respective affiliates, expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, review or revise any statement contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.