FiiZK Protection's production facility in Valsneset, Bjugn municipality, near Trondheim (Norway), where most of its around 30 employees work.
Photo: FiiZK group.
Hampidjan hf. announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire all shares in the Norwegian company FiiZK Protection AS, a leader in the production and sale of salmon louse skirts for the aquaculture industry. FiiZK Protection currently holds approximately 80% of the market for salmon louse skirts in Norway and, with this transaction, Hampidjan intends to extend its presence to all countries where it has operations. The purchase is expected to be finalized in early September.
Specializing in salmon louse skirts for the aquaculture sector - these are protective walls made of fabric that are placed around the pen preventing sea lice or jellyfish from entering the fish farm and causing harm to the fish - FiiZK Protection has a production facility in Valsneset, near Trondheim in Norway. This is where the company's 30 or so employees are located, except for some administrative staff who work in the Trondheim offices.
According to Hampidjan announcement, after the acquisition the company will still operate under the FiiZK Protection banner for some months, but the company name will change as the FiiZK group operates other companies under the FiiZK brand in Norway.
It should be noted that the transaction does not include FiiZK Protection's facility in Mjåtveit, near Bergen in western Norway. This business - which manufactures technical textiles including tarpaulins for closed and semi-closed fish cages - will be transferred to another FiiZK group company, FiiZK Industries AS, before the execution of the share purchase.
In the release, Hampidjan highlighted the strength and stability of FiiZK Protection, which has demonstrated steady growth and success in the market, with a turnover of NOK 100 million (EUR 8.3 million / USD 9 million) in 2023. In comparison, the turnover of the Hampidjan Group in 2023 amounted to around EUR 322 million (USD 351.2 million).
With this acquisition, Hampidjan will further strengthen its product offering to aquaculture companies and will be able to leverage FiiZK Protection's knowledge and expertise to offer new solutions in the fight against sea lice in aquaculture.
Likewise, as mentioned, the Icelandic company will be able to sell FiiZK Protection's skirt products in countries where Hampidjan already has operations - the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the Faroe Islands, among others, as well as Iceland -, and it claims to see great opportunities to increase skirt sales in those markets.
"We are very pleased to have FiiZK Protection join the Hampidjan group, and see the purchase as an important step in the continued development of our services to the aquaculture sector, as we already have very strong activities related to aquaculture in many parts of the world, especially in the North-Atlantic Ocean," said Hjörtur Erlendsson, CEO of Hampidjan. "Now we can offer an even wider range of products and services to fish farming companies, further strengthening Hampidjan's position in this important market."
FiiZK Protection is one of the three main business divisions of the FiiZK group, whose main shareholders are Nekkar and BEWI Invest, after taking over 80% of the company at the end of August last year (39% Nekkar, 41% BEWI Invest). Immediately after doing so, five of the eight companies forming the group were declared bankrupt.
"Since then, we have carried out a successful restructuring of the FiiZK group and initiated a strategic process that has resulted in a plan for a more focused FiiZK," BEWI Invest stated in a recent posting on its LinkedIn page.
Following Hampidjan's acquisition of FiiZK Protection, of those three divisions - FiiZK Aquaculture Systems AS, FiiZK Digital AS and FiiZK Protection AS - the group now has only the first, since, as we learned just over a month ago, Norwegian seafood investment firm Bluefront Equity acquired FiiZK Digital earlier this summer.