Marine Harvest ‘disagrees’ with EU fine

Norwegian salmon farmer Marine Harvest said it may be seeking relief in an EU court after receiving a EUR 20 million (USD 26.9 million) fine for violating merger rules in its acquisition of rival Morpol.

The EU accused Marine Harvest of finalizing the deal as much as eight months before seeking the approval of EU regulators, according to published reports.

“Marine Harvest remains of the opinion that it acted in accordance with the requirements of the exception applying to public takeovers in its acquisition of Morpol and thus disagrees with the Commission on the applicability of a fine,” the company said in a statement.

Marine Harvest officials said they believed they were up-front about the merger, and indicated they would not take control of Morpol until the acquisition had been cleared by the EU.

“Marine Harvest made it clear to both the market and Morpol that no control would be taken before the acquisition had been cleared by the EU,” Marine Harvest said in its statement.

The company said it believed the fine was excessive given the nature of the complaint, and that it may be referring the issue to the EU courts.

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