After acquiring the company in 2022, SalMar now owns more than 90% of the shares in NTS. Gustav Witzøe's company has now decided to compulsorily redeem the remaining shares by offering a settlement price of NOK 75.48 (€ 6,88 / $ 7,36) per share, exactly the same as it paid for them in last year's purchase. However, NTS' small shareholders – some 1,000 representing approximately 7% of the company – have said no to SalMar's offer.
"Throughout the sale process of NTS, I feared that the shareholders would lose. And I have been proved right", pointed out Odd R. Øie. "SalMar was able to buy NTS at a bargain sale. So we believe there is every reason to demand a higher price than what SalMar has finally proposed to pay for the compulsory redemption of shares", he continued. "Mowi wanted to buy NTS at 127.50 per share. I am dissatisfied that the shareholders are now left with NOK 75 after the sale to SalMar", he concluded.
Øie is a former Chairman of the company and has been a shareholder since 1997. Through the company Amble Investment, owned by him and his family, he is leading this initiative to reject the settlement sum offered. He is also supported by Guntvedt Holding, Hans Martin Storø's company, and hopes to involve as many shareholders as possible in the process.
In the release launched today, Øie informed that all remaining shareholders who are interested can send a confirmation that they will participate in the claim to Selmer, the law firm that will handle the process. He also recalled that according to a notice in the Brønnøysund Register, objections or refusals to the settlement amount must be reported by 6 March.
The news comes just over a year after SalMar announced it would take control of NTS. In July 2022 the Norwegian Competition Authority approved the deal. The hardest part was reaching an agreement for the merger with one of the NTS companies, Norway Royal Salmon, which was finally completed in early November 2022, just after it was approved by the European Union.