Nordic Aquafarms has announced it has entered into an agreement with Sustainable Seafood Invest to acquire 50 percent of the shares in Maximus and 32.5 percent of the shares of Sashimi Royal, making both companies a fully-owned subsidiary.
The two Danish companies are both producers of yellowtail kingfish, with Maximus running a hatchery with its own broodstock and Sashimi Royal producing fully grown-out product of weights from 50 grams to five kilograms. The total annual harvest capacity is 900 metric tons, but that number could increase as there is “potential for on-site capacity expansion,” Nordic stated in the announcement of the acquisition.
“Nordic Aquafarms is the only land-based producer of two high value species; yellowtail kingfish and salmon, and the acquisition of the remaining share in the two Danish yellowtail kingfish companies enables us to focus even more on this fantastic product,” Nordic Aquafarms CEO Bernt Olav Røttingsnes said. “We have made plans for further development of the companies and will evaluate how these can be implemented in the near future. With this acquisition we strengthen our biological diversification and expand the opportunity space for future projects globally.”
Røttingsnes served as chair of the board of directors of Sashimi Royal, and also served on the board for Maximus. The two companies’ primary product is yellowtail, farmed at land-based facilities located near the port of Hanstholm in Demark.
The acquisition by Nordic expands the company’s land-based seafood production in Europe. The company has an existing Fredrikstad, Norway-based salmon facility that has been in operation since May 2019, delivering its first salmon to customers in the region in Q2 2020.
Two of the company’s largest projects, located in Belfast, Maine and Humboldt, California, both in the United States, are continuing to acquire permits. The company is expecting to start construction of the Maine project sometime this year.
“Nordic Aquafarms has made tremendous progress the last years and is entering into a very exiting period with start of construction of our Maine project, permitting in California, and increased production of salmon in Norway and of yellowtail kingfish in Denmark,” Røttingsnes said. “We have a non-site specific technology and will continue to look for new locations for our aquafarms.”
Photo courtesy of Nordic Aquafarms
