'Nova Sea' will retain its name and focus on Lovund.
Photo: Nova Sea.
Since Mowi announced in January 2025 that it had reached an agreement to increase its ownership share of Nova Sea from 49% to 95%, and subsequently made a voluntary offer to the other shareholders, the Norwegian salmon giant had been following all the steps for the complete integration of the companies. The latest was approval from the Norwegian competition authority, which came shortly after the green light from the European Commission. With all the acquisition steps now completed, as of yesterday, March 3, Nova Sea is part of Mowi.
In a statement released by Nova Sea, the company emphasized that, following the merger, the 'Nova Sea' brand will continue as an independent company. Operations in Lovund, Nordland, including the construction of the new processing plant, will also continue as before, and the salmon will be sold by the sales and marketing team in Lovund.
In addition, the company used the same statement to announce that Ørjan Tveiten will assume the position of Regional Director for the "new" Mowi Norway North.
"We will further develop the solid foundation that has been built on Lovund over several decades," Tveiten said, commenting on his new responsibilities. "The ambition is for this process to contribute to sustainable growth and new opportunities in Northern Norway and on Helgeland," he added.
The Managing Director of Mowi Norway, Øyvind Oaland, and the group's CEO, Ivan Vindheim, talked in the same vein.
"With Nova Sea on board, Mowi Norway will strengthen its position as a driving force both within the Mowi group and in the global aquaculture industry as a whole," Oaland stated.
"For many years, Nova Sea has been a guiding star in Norwegian aquaculture, with strong biological performance and margins among the very best in the industry. We are committed to preserving this as we now become one company. After several decades as a major owner, it is very gratifying that we are now formally joining forces," Vindheim added.
As the company already announced in its Q4 and FY 2025 results report, following the acquisition of Nova Sea, Mowi will have an expected harvest volume of 380,000 tons in Norway and 605,000 tons globally in 2026. As CEO Ivan Vindheim explained at the time, this represents annual growth of 8.3%, compared with 1% expected industry growth.