"Mowi is pleased to announce that the acquisition of the shares has been completed", said the company's stock exchange statement. Thus, by taking 51.28% of the shares, the world's largest salmon producer completed the acquisition of the Icelandic salmon company Arctic Fish it announced last October. Earlier, on December 23, the company had obtained EU permission to close the transaction.
The deal, which was agreed as part of an agreement to pave the way for SalMar's merger with NTS, has been closed at a price of NOK 115 (€10.90 / $11.62) per share, for a total sum of NOK 1900 million (€180 million / $192 million) which, as Mowi announced, will be paid in cash using the company's available credit lines.
When Mowi's intention to buy its majority stake in Arctic Fish from SalMar was made public, the Norwegian company highlighted how the employees, management team, and owners had made it one of the leading producers of Atlantic salmon in Iceland. In total, Arctic Fish has licenses for 10 ASC-approved sites, with a maximum permitted biomass of 27,100 tons and another 4,800 tons pending approval.
"The Icelandic salmon farming industry is set for extensive development and growth in the coming years and we take great pleasure in this opportunity to play a part. Icelandic waters provide excellent growth and living conditions for the salmon", Ivan Vindheim, CEO of Mowi, said at the time. "Arctic Fish's geographical footprint and competent organization fit unusually well with Mowi's current operations and strategy", he added. A statement that, given the current situation of the industry in Norway with the salmon tax about to be implemented without having yet reached a consensus, makes even more sense.
Headquartered in Bergen, Norway, Mowi is one of the world's leading seafood companies and the largest producer of farmed salmon in the world. With this acquisition, the company adds one more country, Iceland, to the six it has previously farmed in, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Canada, and Chile. Mowi, which employs 11,500 people in 25 countries around the world and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, is ranked the world's most sustainable animal protein producer by Coller FAIRR.
