Board (line one, from left): Chair Kristofer Reiten, Frank Småge, Frode Kjølås, Ingjarl Skarvøy. Line 2, from right: Anders Sandøy, Per Olav Mevold, Peder Stette, Glen Bradley. Photo: Brunes Foto.
Great faith has been shown in Salmon Evolution by both existing shareholders and new industrial owners with a regional entrenchment through providing an additional NOK 258 million for the company’s major project to farm fish on land.
Today’s shareholders are injecting NOK 107 million through this share issue, while Ronja Capital is the largest of the new investors.
”The decision by the present shareholders to provide us with further capital is a vote of confidence,” says Kristofer Reiten, chair of Salmon Evolution. ”The experience and expertise possessed by the shareholder structure over the whole salmon value chain will make a big quality contribution to our future development.”
Salmon Evolution will utilise flowthrough technology with reuse in exploiting clean and fresh water from the sea off Indre Harøy in Hustadvika local authority to provide salmon in the farm with optimal conditions for growth and good health. This will ensure a sustainable annual output of 36 000 tonnes of salmon.
Ronja Capital is owned by Roger Halsebakk, the founder of Sølvtrans – the world’s largest wellboat owner.
The company highlights the technology chosen in relation to growth opportunities, risk and return as the most important reasons for opting to become a shareholder in Salmon Evolution.
”Low biological risk has been the biggest consideration for us in assessing investment opportunities in land-based aquaculture,” says Tore Tønseth, investment vice president at Ronja Capital.
”Our view of the company hasn’t changed, despite the fluctuations in the financial market over recent months. We’ve followed this project over a long time, and now want to contribute to the company’s continued development.”
Odd Tore Finnøy, CEO of Salmon Evolution, is pleased at getting such an industrially strong ownership in place.
”We’re very gratified that we’ve attracted a number of industrial and well-capitalised shareholders with a clear foothold along the Norwegian coast and in our industry,” he says.
”Our success in securing this capital injection in the present financial climate is a clear confirmation of our robustness. A strong network, expertise and financial room for manoeuvre will contribute to very exciting progress for us.”
DNB Markets and Pareto Securities were coordinators for the share issue.
For further information, contact:
Odd Tore Finnøy
CEO
Salmon Evolution AS
+47 48 26 54 10
Kristofer Reiten
Chair
Salmon Evolution AS
+47 900 60 960
Facts about Salmon Evolution
New shareholder position at 20 March 2020
| Shareholdings after share issue | |
| Shareholder | Holding |
| Ronja Capital AS | 19.6% |
| Romsdalsfisk AS | 18.8% |
| Farvatn Private Equity AS | 14.0% |
| Rofisk AS | 12.6% |
| Artec Holding AS | 7.3% |
| Kjølås Stansekniver AS | 7.0% |
| Stette Invest AS | 7.0% |
| Jakob Hatteland Holding AS | 5.6% |
| Terra Mare AS | 2.2% |
| Salmoserve AS | 1.7% |
| Ocean Supreme AS | 1.4% |
| Småge Eiendom AS | 1.4% |
| Flataker Eiendom AS | 0.7% |
| AKSA Holding AS | 0.1% |
| Employees | 0.7% |
| Total | 100.0% |
Technology
Flowthrough with reuse ensures the best possible water quality for the fish while providing very low operational and biological risk. This approach is cost-effective in terms of both the level of investment and production costs.
Investment in first construction stage
NOK 1.3 billion
Annual production volume
Construction stage 1: 9 000 tonnes of salmon
Fully developed: 36 000 tonnes of salmon
Construction start
Planned for the second quarter of 2020
First introduction of smolts
Q4 2021
First harvesting
Q4 2022
Illustration: Salmon Evolution/Moldskred