Romsdal, Norway-headquartered land-based salmon farming company Salmon Evolution has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Cargill, which will include an investment and an aquafeed supply contract.
The new partnership will see Cargill invest approximately USD 5 million (EUR 4.3 million) in the company through a private placement of new shares. These shares will have a subscription price of NOK 7.71 (USD 0.91, EUR 0.78) per share, which equals the average price for the 20 trading days leading up to the Cargill announcement on 13 October, 2021.
The proceeds from the private placement will be used for general corporate purposes including evaluation and development of future expansion opportunities. Through the private placement, Salmon Evolution will issue 5,541,374 new shares which will be subscribed for by Cargill’s Norwegian subsidiary Ewos AS. The issue shares will be issued pursuant to the board authorization granted by Salmon Evolution’s general meeting on 19 May, 2021, and is expected to be issued during October 2021. Upon issuance of the shares, Salomon Evolution will have a share capital of NOK 15.5 million (USD 1.8 million, EUR 1.6 million), consisting of 310,796,489 shares.
The agreement also commits Cargill’s resources and research and development capacity to develop sustainable feed solutions tailored to Salmon Evolution’s operational targets of high biological performance and premium product quality. Salmon Evolution CEO Håkon André Berg said the company sees “strong and untapped potential” in tailoring a feed focused on maximizing biological performance and product quality.
“Given Cargill’s solid reputation and track record as a supplier of high-performance feed solutions, combined with their substantial R&D capabilities and capacities both in Norway and abroad, we are confident that we have found an ideal partner,” he said.
Salmon Evolution’s Indre Harøy farm is scheduled to commence production in March 2022, and once fully complete in 2027 or 2028, will have an annual capacity of 31,500 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon. The company has also formed a joint venture with Seoul, South Korea-based Dongwon Industries to build a 20,000 MT land-based salmon farm using Salmon Evolution’s hybrid flowthrough (HFS) farming technology in Yangyang, South Korea.
Photo courtesy of Salmon Evolution
