King salmon is now on the menu at both the NZX Main Board (NZX) and the ASX exchanges following the listing of the world’s largest aquaculture producer of the species, New Zealand King Salmon.
As a result of a fully subscribed initial public offer (IPO), and based on the NZD 1.12 (USD 0.81, EUR 0.73) price per share, the company’s market capitalization was NZD 154.5 million (USD 111.4 million, EUR 101.3 million), excluding certain shares offered under an employee share-ownership plan.
New Zealand King Salmon Chairman John Ryder said salmon represented a “healthy” ingredient to any investment portfolio.
“The planet’s resources need careful management, at the same time as the world’s growing population is crying out for increased nutritious food production. Farmed salmon in particular represents an efficient and sustainable way of meeting those needs. The New Zealand King Salmon IPO has provided us with a strong platform for investing in aquaculture growth, something the New Zealand government strongly supports with a goal of increasing revenue from the aquaculture industry to more than NZD 1 billion (USD 720.8 million, EUR 655.5 million) by 2025,” said Ryder.
The IPO for the Nelson/Marlborough-based company was for 69.2 million ordinary shares, quoted under the ticker NZK. New Zealand King Salmon had sought NZD 30 million (USD 21.6 million, EUR 19.7 million) in new capital to repay debt, and to fund future investment and working capital.
As part of the IPO, existing investor Direct Capital sold NZD 45 million (USD 32.4 million, EUR 29.5 million) of shares and major shareholder Oregon Group reduced its shareholding to approximately 40 percent. Other existing minority shareholders have sold approximately NZD 1.5 million (USD 1.1 million, EUR 983,254) of shares in aggregate.
Ryder said it was extremely pleasing to him that New Zealand investors have demonstrated strong support for the IPO.
Shares were allocated to institutions in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong, local Marlborough and Nelson Bays iwi, as well as a number of brokers on behalf of their New Zealand resident clients.
The “priority offer” of NZD 1.5 million of shares to eligible residents in the Marlborough and Nelson Bays regions was fully subscribed.
Established 20 years ago through the privatization and merger of New Zealand’s two largest salmon companies, New Zealand King Salmon owns and operates 11 farm sites, of which eight are being farmed – harvesting and processing more than 6,000 metric tons (MT) of king salmon annually. Its core brands include Regal, Southern Ocean and premium foodservice brand Ōra King.
