Norwegian aquaculture group NTS ASA has confirmed that – through its salmon-farming company Midt-Norsk Havbruk (MNH) – it has acquired 14.45 percent of the shares in Norway Royal Salmon (NRS), strengthening its ownership position in the listed fish-farming company.
In November 2020, Midt-Norsk Havbruk AS (MNH) sold all of its shares in Ice Fish Farm to Måsøval in exchange for settlement in shares in NRS. Through that deal and its latest share purchase, NTS controls - directly and indirectly through MNH - 13,440,729 shares in NRS. This corresponds to 30.84 percent of the total number of shares and votes in the company.
“As an integrated aquaculture group, NTS ASA has a goal of being an active participant in the production of 100,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon in Norway,” NTS Chairman Odd R. Øie said.
NRS aims to harvest a total of 52,000 MT of salmon this year, with 40,000 MT produced in Norway.
Earlier this month, MNH merged with SalmoNor, creating a bigger player on the Namdal coast, with a total salmon harvest volume of about 37,000 MT this year.
In addition to significant aquaculture operations in Norway, NRS has a 50.3 percent stake in Arctic Fish, a salmon producer on the northwest coast of Iceland, which has estimated its harvest volume this year at 12,000 MT.
Not only does NTS ASA directly and indirectly control 30.84 percent of the shares and votes in NRS, but Helge Gåsø, a board member and the largest single shareholder in NTS, owns 3.72 percent of the shares in NRS through his company Gåsø Næringsutvikling AS. Gåsø is also chairman of the board of NRS.
Gåsø Næringsutvikling is considered close to NTS, according to the Securities Act. As such, Gåsø's ownership position in NRS is also considered part of NTS ASA's influence on NRS.
The total ownership of 34.57 percent thus triggers an offer obligation on all NRS shares that are not owned by the grouping NTS ASA, MNH, or Gåsø Næringsutvikling.
The group now has a deadline of four weeks to either sell down or make an offer to buy the remaining shares in NRS.
