Marine Harvest announced this week the completion of its divestment of its Meridian Salmon Farms farming operations on the Shetland and Orkney Islands, selling them to Cooke Aquaculture in a deal worth GBP 122.5 million (USD 204 million, EUR 148 million).
The companies first announced the sale was pending on 27 March, and followed up on 14 May with the announcement that the deal was done.
“This purchase gives us a unique platform for our European operations and is a good fit with our Spanish sea bass and sea bream farming company, Culmarex,” said Glenn Cooke, Cooke’s CEO. “We will be able to leverage our global relationships with suppliers and build on Meridian’s excellent market reach into both the European and U.S. marketplace.”
Marine Harverst sold the division in part due to requirements by the European Commission after approving the Morpol transaction in September 2013. In 2013, Meridian saw revenues of CAD 151.3 million (USD 136.4 million, EUR 99 million) and EBITDA of CAD 44.3 million (USD 40 million, EUR 29 million).
The operations have a combined harvest volume of 17,400 GWT estimated for 2014.
