Norwegian seafood exporters Polar Quality and Fram Seafood announced their intention to merge, creating a new seafood export company with sales revenue of roughly NOK 7.7 million (USD 826 million, EUR 708 million).
The two companies announced their intention to merge in a press release, stating the boards and owners of both companies agreed to continue to work on a planned merger, which is still subject to the completion of a formal process. Polar Quality was established in 2002 by seafood producers in Northern Norway, while Fram Seafood was founded by Marit Sivertsen and Ole Kristian Kjellbakk, who both have backgrounds from working at Polar Quality.
“Our goal has always been to build a solid and future-oriented export company with a long-term perspective and a clear position in the world market,” Polar Quality Chair Jarle Solemdal said in a release. “Now we see the opportunity to bring together two environments with a lot of expertise and complementary experience.”
Both companies are based in the municipality of Bodøm, Norway, and both are owned by local salmon farmers. The two companies said that gives them access to raw materials and the rest of the value chain due to close proximity.
“By joining forces, we gain a stronger foundation for further growth. We combine expertise, customer relations and market understanding,” Fram Seafood CEO Ole Kristian Kjellbak said in a release. “Together, we gain better conditions for developing the business and meeting changes in an international market.”
Kjellbak said the merger will help the newly-formed company establish new markets and products, while remaining true to its local sourcing of products in northern Norway.
In a post on the company’s LinkedIn, Fram said the two companies are looking to bring expertise from both companies together to build a solid foundation for forward momentum.
Between the two companies, Polar Quality is the much larger player, with revenue in 2025 of NOK 6.16 billion (USD 661 million, EUR 566 million), according to the Norwegian registry of businesses. The company is part of the Salten Aqua group, a salmon aquaculture company, and serves as a sales arm for the company’s product, which comes from companies like salmon farmer Edelfarm and salmon processor Salten Salmon.
Fram’s revenue measured NOK 1.54 billion (USD 165 million, EUR 141 million) in the same time period, and the company is owned by local aquaculture companies.
While Polar Quality posted much higher revenue, it’s operating profit was worse than Fram’s in the same period. Fram posted an operating profit of NOK 11.3 million (USD 1.2 million, EUR 1 million), compared to Polar Quality’s loss of NOK 10.6 million (USD 1.1 million, EUR 970,000).
