Seafarms Group Limited subsidiary Sea Dragon Shrimp has continued to make progress on acquiring the assets of Project Sea Dragon to continue developing the project.
Seafarms Group announced its plans to acquire the assets in November, with the goal of acquiring all assets and undertakings of the stalled Project Sea Dragon – which was at one point planned to be one of the largest land-based prawn aquaculture projects in the world. The AUD 1.45 billion (USD 961 million, EUR 818 million) project was slated to develop up to 10,000 hectares of pounds to raise black tiger prawns.
The project got its start in 2021 after Seafarms signed a contract with Canstruct to build it but quickly ran into snags. A former CEO of the company claimed it could not proceed after a company review, trading of its securities was suspended after Seafarms Group Limited decided to withdraw funding, a court ruled its assets should be liquidated alleging abuse of corporate laws, and a subsequent appeal of that ruling by Seafarms Group Limited failed leading to the liquidation proceeding.
Seafarms Group said it was committed to Project Sea Dragon even amid the many complications, and Seafarms CEO Peter Fraser said this latest development will allow Sea Dragon Shrimp to begin it anew.
“This transaction paves the way to formalize funding with investors at the appropriate time,” Fraser said. “The funding will enable the development of the Sea Dragon Shrimp project including development of new farms, hatcheries, processing facilities, and supporting infrastructure across the Northern Territory and Western Australia.”
Seafarms said it continues to progress on funding discussions with investors and is doing detailed planning and permitting transfers to prepare restarting the staged development of Project Sea Dragon.
The company added that it still needs some approvals from third parties before the transaction is fully completed.
Where that is the case, those assets or undertakings will be transferred or assigned to Sea Dragon Shrimp upon the receipt of such consent,” Seafarms Group said. “Sea Dragon Shrimp is in advanced engagement with those third parties and is confident that any required consent will be forthcoming.”
