U.S. land-based salmon producer AquaBounty Technologies has raised USD 31.6 million (EUR 26.8 million) following the completion of its latest common stock offering, before including expenses.
The company closed the public offering of 11 million shares of the company’s common stock on August 11, 2020, and underwriters were granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 1.65 million shares of the company’s common stock at the public offering price of USD 2.50 (EUR 2.11) per share.
A notable investor in this round of funding is Randal Kirk, the CEO of biotech firm Intrexon and an investor in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, who spent USD 10 million (EUR 8.5 million) buying up AquaBounty stock, according to Yahoo Finance.
The purchase – one of the largest by an insider individual in the last twelve months for AquaBounty – signals confidence in the company’s future from a prominent investor and that the USD 2.50 stock option to be a worthwhile price tag for investing.
Trading in AquaBounty stocks has long been a topic of stock market news publications and blogs, and hit a high-point last week when values hit USD 2.61 (EUR 2.21) before settling at USD 2.55 (EUR 2.16).
Losses for the company have piled up over the years, but the first commercial-scale harvest of conventional Atlantic salmon raised in the U.S. in June, and the first harvest of its genetically engineered AquAdvantage Salmon expected to follow later this year, the company is nearing a turning point toward production and, more importantly, profitability.
“I think the thing that is most exciting to me is that the U.S. really does have an opportunity to become a country that has a thriving aquaculture business,” AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf told SeafoodSource earlier this month. “Seafood is a healthy protein and the self-sufficient design of land-based RAS farms is a tremendous opportunity. And I think the time for that is now – we’re excited to be a part of it.”
The company is also in the latter stages of evaluating the top potential sites for a new location for a new U.S. facility and that an announcement could come as early as September. The company could break ground in early 2021.
Photo courtesy of AquaBounty
