The Kingfish Company's booth at SENA 2025.
Photo: The Kingfish Company LinkedIn page.
In a statement released on Friday, The Kingfish Company confirmed the successful completion of its EUR 21 million private placement, alongside the conversion of its outstanding convertible loan and the amendment to its senior financing agreement. "Together, these steps materially strengthen our balance sheet, improve liquidity, and simplify our capital structure," the release said.
As the Dutch land-based aquaculture company announced in May, of the total EUR 21 million, the Icelandic holding company Eyrir had committed to subscribing to shares worth EUR 15 million so that, upon completion of the operation, the investment firm would be the majority shareholder of the company, as has now been confirmed.
"We are particularly pleased to welcome Eyrir Invest as our largest shareholder following the transaction. Their support, together with that of our existing shareholders and new investors, reflects confidence not only in The Kingfish Company's long-term potential, but also in Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) technology," the statement read.
"As a pioneer in land-based yellowtail kingfish farming, we believe RAS will play an important and increasing role in building a more sustainable and resilient seafood sector," it continued.
Although in this latest statement Kingfish has not specified the percentage of shares that now belong to Eyrir, the company had already said that, if everything went as planned, once the strategic financial restructuring was completed, the Icelandic investor would own a stake representing approximately 31.4% of the total share capital.
Furthermore, before this formal confirmation, Eyrir's majority stake in The Kingfish Company had already been reflected in its Supervisory Board, which, following the company's last Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), had welcomed Eyrir Chairman Arni Oddur Thordarson as a new member.
In its announcement last Friday, Kingfish also said that the company will remain focused on execution, meaning continuing to improve the performance of its systems and fish, strengthening its commercial momentum, and creating a solid and resilient platform for business growth in Europe and international markets.
The land-based yellowtail kingfish farmer thus reaffirmed what its CEO, Vincent Erenst, had already expressed just two weeks ago during the presentation of its preliminary results for FY 2025 and its business update for Q1 2026.
"The Q1 2026 results demonstrate continued progress in our farming operations, with higher production volumes, improved eFCR and stronger overall biological performance," he said. "We remain focused on further increasing production efficiency, and progressing towards positive EBITDA and operating cash flow, while continuing to serve our core European markets."
The CEO of The Kingfish Company was, in fact, one of the unwitting protagonists of the end of fiscal year 2025 and the beginning of 2026 at the company. In just two months, from November 2025 to February 2026, he announced his retirement and the company announced the arrival of a new CEO to replace him, but this new CEO ended up resigning before even taking office, which led Erenst to decide to stay on and postpone his retirement for a year.
Thus, with the closing of this private placement, the company is also about to close a pivotal period in both financial and management terms.
The final step will be the subsequent repair offering for eligible existing shareholders who did not participate in the private placement, which, subject to the corresponding regulatory process and the completion of the 2025 audit, is scheduled to take place in July.