Cooke subsidiary Kelly Cove Salmon (KCS) has acquired the defunct operations of Aqua Bounty Canada on Prince Edward Island.
Cooke said the acquisition will allow KCS – the Atlantic Canadian salmon-farming division of Cooke Aquaculture – to produce large smolts for stocking its existing ocean salmon-farming sites. According to a Form 8-K filed by AquaBounty Technologies, the parent company of Aqua Bounty Canada, the purchase price was just over CAD 3 million (USD 2 million, EUR 1.9 million) minus the aggregate amount of liabilities for Aqua Bounty Canada under an outstanding loan with KCS and accrued and unpaid license fees.
According to the Form 8-K, with those adjustments, the closing price drops to CAD 1.58 million (USD 1.08 million, EUR 1.03 million).
AquaBounty Technologies announced it was planning to sell its facility in Canada in September 2024 to solve a cash crunch at the company. Just a few months later in December 2024, it announced it was halting its salmon-farming operations.
The company put years of work into obtaining FDA approval for its genetically engineered salmon and gained approval in 2015 only to be hit with a series of import alerts, court cases, and a new FDA assessment in 2022 that was not resolved until 2023 as the company was already dealing with ballooning costs for its planned recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in the U.S. state of Ohio.
The approval came too late for the company to salvage its operations, and it has now sold its former Indiana-based RAS facility for a loss and auctioned off assets related to its planned Ohio-based salmon RAS for undisclosed amounts.
Cooke said that while AquaBounty was known for developing genetically engineered salmon, it does not farm nor plan to sell any genetically engineered products and does not plan to do so after the acquisition. The facility will instead be used for traditional, non-engineered salmon production.
“Our freshwater science and fish health team will take the necessary time to thoroughly assess the capabilities of these newly acquired R&D and fish-rearing facilities,” Cooke Aquaculture CEO Glenn Cooke said. “This evaluation will include a detailed analysis of the infrastructure, resources, and expertise. Hybrid systems involving a mix of efficient land-based hatcheries and ocean farming are the responsible and sustainable way to grow local salmon for food.”
KCS has already rehired seven of Aqua Bounty Canada’s former employees following the latter company’s wind-down in December, Cooke said.
The facility includes four different buildings including a hatchery facility with modern egg incubation and a laboratory in Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island. Aqua Bounty Canada’s Rollo Bay facility also hosts a modern hatchery facility, a new RAS facility, and a second unfinished building that was meant to house another large RAS unit which KCS said it plans to complete.
“Our community is delighted to see a family seafood company known for its investments in rural coastal areas and its provision of stable, year-round employment acquire these assets," Robin Croucher, the Prince Edward Island minister of education and early years and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Souris-Emira, said. "It's fantastic to see Cooke expanding its presence on PEI, taking over these operations, and preserving jobs."
On top of growing larger smolts in the hatchery, Cooke said it plans to also use a new shipping route via well boat at the Port of Souris and establish vessel operations in the port.
"We are thrilled to have KCS establish new vessel operations at the Port of Souris," Souris Harbor Authority General Manager Andy Daggett said. "This will further strengthen our working waterfront and enhance our community's economic vitality.”
