Morpol expands into salmon farming
Morpol ASA on Wednesday announced that it purchased a 100 percent interest in Mainstream Scotland from Cermaq ASA for NOK 350 million (USD 57 million, EUR 44.2 million).
With the acquisition, the Poland-based company, one of the world's largest salmon processors, now expands into farming. Last year, Mainstream Scotland harvested 6,500 metric tons of Atlantic salmon and posted turnover of NOK 196.7 million, which is expected to exceed NOK 230 million this year.
Mainstream Scotland will provide about 10 percent of Morpol's raw material needs. The operation's output represents about 10 percent of Shetland's total farmed salmon production, and it is the main salmon producer in the Orkney Islands.
"It is exciting for Morpol to make the first step into salmon farming, particularly entering first in Mainstream Scotland, which we believe has a significant potential for growth over today's production levels," said Morpol CEO Jerzy Malek.
"We intend to use this acquisition as a platform for market penetration in the UK and French markets and will further invest in processing to align Morpol with our customers' needs," added Malek. "We believe we can extract synergies in the value chain and enhance margins while at the same time increasing our presence in other markets such as the U.S., which prefers Scottish salmon."
In a press release, Cermaq said Mainstream Scotland is "too limited to secure sufficient economy of scale."
"A sale of the Scottish farming and processing activity to Morpol is considered as a good solution for Cermaq, Morpol, Mainstream Scotland as well as for our Scottish employees," said Cermaq CEO Geir Isaksen. "Cermaq has through Mainstream an ambition to be one of the leading global farming companies. The sale of Mainstream Scotland does therefore not impact Cermaq's long-term strategy."
In late June, Morpol raised NOK 1.45 billion as part of its initial public offering.
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