Aker Capital AS, the subsidiary of Aker ASA, a holding company operating in the offshore fishing, construction and engineering markets, announced Wednesday, 16 March it sold 8.5 million shares of Havfisk, the Norwegian whitefish fishing company formerly known as Aker Seafood.
The shares were sold for NOK 29 (USD 3.37, EUR 3.05) each, meaning the sale netted the company NOK 246.5 million (USD 28.7 million, EUR 25.9 million). As a result of the transaction, Aker passed the two-thirds threshold of the outstanding share capital in Havfisk. Aker remains the majority shareholder in Havfisk, owning 63.2 percent of the share capital in the company, or approximately 53.5 million shares.
“We remain positive to the whitefish industry fundamentals and have a strong belief in Havfisk’s growth going forward," Aker president and CEO Øyvind Eriksen said. “Aker will continue to be a long-term majority owner in the company and Havfisk will remain a core holding in our industrial portfolio.”
Havfisk operates 9 fishing vessels in Norwegian waters and recently ordered another combination trawler from boatbuilder Vard, which will be delivered in 2018. The company posted its highest ever operating revenues in 2015, earning NOK 1.13 billion (USD 133 million, EUR 119 million) in operating revenues. Its 2015 before-tax profit totaled NOK 228 million (USD 26.8 million, EUR 24 million).
According to a Havfisk press release, “The results reflect increased prices, increased volume and more operating days in the quarter, simultaneously with weaker fishery than normal in a fourth quarter. The catch rates (catch volume per operating day) decreased with 2 percent compared with the same period in 2014.”
Aker is represented on the Havfisk board of directors by Aker CFO Frank O. Reite, who acts as chairman of the board, and Aker investment director Ola Snøve, Investment Director at Aker.
Norwegian industrialist Kjell Inge Røkke is the primary owner of Aker ASA, which is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (AKER). The company is headquartered in Ålesund, Norway.
