Bergen, Norway-based Marine Harvest successfully issued a EUR 200 million (USD 233.6 million) five-year bond, it announced on 31 May.
The proceeds of the senior unsecured bond, which has a settlement date of 12 June, 2018, will be used for general corporate purposes, according to the company.
The issuance was “substantially oversubscribed,” the company said.
Marine Harvest also signed a purchase agreement on 23 May with fellow salmon farmer Bakkafrost to purchase one of its harvesting plants in Strendur, in the Faroe Islands.
Previously, Bakkafrost had performed harvesting operations for Marine Harvest in the Faroe Islands, and it will continue to do so as Marine Harvest refurbishes the Strendur plant, according to a Bakkafrost press release.
“After the completion of the new harvest and processing facilities in Glyvrar where seven factories were combined into one brand new factory, Bakkafrost has some excess factories,” the company said. “This redundant capacity has created an opportunity for the salmon farmer to purchase one of Bakkafrost’ old harvesting facilities.”
Additionally, Marine Harvest has opened a new salmon hatchery in Inchmore, Glenmoriston, Scotland.
The new GBP 26.5 million (USD 35.4 million, EUR 30.3 million) hatchery opened on 1 June. It replaces a smaller, 38-year-old hatchery on the site, and will allow Marine Harvest to stock all its Scottish farms with fish it has raised from egg to harvest.
The new 13,500-square-meter facility will grow up to 12 million fish a year from eyed eggs into smolts, fry, and parr which will then be transferred to the company’s 49 seawater fish farms and five freshwater loch sites. It features a state-of-the-art recirculation system nearly identical to the Lochailort hatchery opened by Marine Harvest in 2013, according to the company.
“This new hatchery is a much needed facility which will allow us to supply our expanding network of sea farms across the western Highlands and Islands and meet the increasing demand for Scottish salmon from across the world,” Marine Harvest Scotland Managing Director Ben Hadfield said. “It is part of our plans to deliver an efficient and sustainable business with a long-term future.”
The hatchery is the latest stage in Marine Harvest’s expansion plans in Scotland, which include the creation of new open-sea fish farms in Barra, Uist, and Muck, with a new site off the Isle of Rum receiving planning permission earlier this year, the company said.
