AquaBounty announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering on Thursday, 4 February, setting a public price of USD 8.50 (EUR 7.10) per share for 13 million shares of common stock.
The company expects to receive aggregate gross proceeds of approximately USD 110.5 million (EUR 92.3 million) from the offering, it said. AquaBounty plans to use the funds for general corporate purposes, including the payment of costs associated with the construction or site development for a new production farm, investing further in its sales and marketing, research and development efforts, and payments of anticipated general and administrative expenses.
Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, are acting as joint book-running managers for this offering, which is expected to close on 8 February.
As AquaBounty raises more funds and prepares for the upcoming first harvest and sale of its genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon this quarter, the company faces a boycott from U.S. foodservice provider Aramark.
“Reiterating our previously stated opposition to genetically engineered (GE) salmon, we will not purchase it should it come to market," Aramark said in a recent update to its sustainable sourcing policy. "Avoiding potential impacts to wild salmon populations and indigenous communities, whose livelihoods are deeply connected to and often dependent upon this vital resource, is core to our company’s commitment to making a positive impact on people and the planet."
Aramark joins two other major foodservice companies, Compass Group and Sodexo, that have claimed that they will not sell GE salmon.
“This is an overdue but pivotal step towards real accountability and corporate integrity, one that every other company in the fisheries industry must make,” Quinault Indian Nation President Fawn Sharp said in a statement, published by environmental group Friends of the Earth. “This incremental progress must continue as corporations learn to be morally accountable for their actions, and sincere and respectful partners to the Tribal Nations who have sustainably managed these fisheries since time immemorial.”
In a responding statement, AquaBounty President and CEO Sylvia Wulf rejected the idea that the company’s GE salmon could have any effect on wild salmon populations.
“AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon is a safe, secure, and sustainable source of Atlantic salmon that is grown on land-based, indoor farms, in America’s heartland and in Canada. Our carefully monitored farms utilize recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) that are good for the fish, good for consumers, and good for the environment,” she said. “Our farms follow strict biosecurity measures that feature multiple layers of containment to prevent escapes. AquaBounty has been growing fish in RAS for decades and we have never experienced an escape. The multiple layers of containment redundancy, coupled with the fact that AquaBounty’s salmon are sterile female fish, pose a much-needed solution to raising fresh, healthy seafood to feed people needing affordable and nutritious sources of lean protein. In fact, the method of land-based farming used by AquaBounty has been promoted by many environmental NGOs for decades. Our farming operations are not 'unlawful' and do not pose a threat to wild salmon populations.”
Wulf said the company seeks to provide innovative solutions to broad, societal obstacles, and hopes that stakeholders can consider new technologies.
“Rather than condemn innovation that provides a creative answer to many problems we all face today and innovation that protects the environment and consumers, each of us can play an important role in embracing technology and the benefits it can make to improve adverse conditions here at home and around the world,” she said. “Claims that are made to the contrary are misinformed and protectionist in nature.”
In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AquaBounty noted the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and resulting shrinking of foodservice in the U.S. has it expecting a reduced demand for its first salmon harvest, and that it may be looking to unload excess conventional Atlantic salmon production to food charities.
"The company is currently exploring options to potentially reduce its excess inventory through donation of fish to local food charities who have experienced unprecedented demand to feed families that have been impacted by the economic downturn in many markets across the U.S. due to the pandemic,” the filing stated. "We expect that these conditions will continue through the first half of 2021, as the industry waits for the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine and the subsequent reopening of the foodservice channel."
Photo courtesy of AquaBounty Technologies
