Salmon Evolution, a land-based, flowthrough salmon farm being built in More og Romsdal, Norway, has collected an additional NOK 107 million (USD 9.5 million, EUR 8.8 million) in investment following a new share issuance.
To date, Salmon Evolution has raised NOK 258 million (USD 22.8 million, EUR 21.2 million) of what the company estimates will be a NOK 3 billion (USD 343.4 million, EUR 305.9 million) price tag, with NOK 1.3 billion (USD 114.4 million, EUR 106 million) earmarked for the first phase of the project.
”The decision by the present shareholders to provide us with further capital is a vote of confidence,” Salmon Evolution's Kristofer Reiten said. “The experience and expertise possessed by the shareholder structure over the whole salmon value chain will make a big quality contribution to our future development.”
Ronja Capital, which is owned by Roger Halsebakk, who founded wellboat-maker Sølvtrans, is the largest of the new investors, according to a press release. Ronja Capital now holds 19.6 percent of Salmon Evolution’s shares. Behind it, with 18.8 percent of company shares, is Romsdalsfisk AS. Farvatn Private Equity AS owns 14 percent of shares; Rofisk AS holds 12.6 percent of shares; and Artec Holding AS, Kjølås Stansekniver AS, Stette Invest AS, and Jakob Hatteland Holding AS each own between 5 and 7.5 percent of shares.
“Low biological risk has been the biggest consideration for us in assessing investment opportunities in land-based aquaculture,” Ronja Capital Investment Vice President Tore Tønseth said. ”Our view of the company hasn’t changed, despite the fluctuations in the financial market over recent months. We’ve followed this project over a long time, and now want to contribute to the company’s continued development.”
Salmon Evolution's Odd Tore Finnøy said the company is happy to have so many investors with backgrounds in aquaculture.
”We’re very gratified that we’ve attracted a number of industrial and well-capitalised shareholders with a clear foothold along the Norwegian coast and in our industry,” he said. ”Our success in securing this capital injection in the present financial climate is a clear confirmation of our robustness. A strong network, expertise, and financial room for [maneuvering] will contribute to very exciting progress for us.”
Salmon Evolution is aiming to produce 9,000 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon annually following the completion of its first phase of construction, and 36,000 MT once fully built-out, according to the company.
Construction is set to begin in Q2 2020, with the first introduction of smolts scheduled for Q4 2021 and the first harvesting set to take place Q4 2022.
Photo courtesy of Brunes Foto/Salmon Evolution
