Atlantic Sapphire opens $64 million capital raise

Atlantic Sapphire, the land-based salmon farming company with facilities in Miami, Florida, has launched a new share offering aimed at raising up to USD 64 million.

This latest rights issue provides existing shareholders with the opportunity to purchase new shares at a discounted price, with the company issuing up to 6.8 billion new shares, at the price of NOK 0.10 (approximately $0.01).

Arctic Securities and DNB Markets are managing the share offering process, with subscription rights listed and available for trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

The company first announced its intention to launch a capital raise in August, as it released its half-yearly report, revealing it had made a net loss of $52 million for the first half of 2024, despite increasing sales to $11.2 million, up from $8.06 million the previous year, and indicated it would need more capital "to improve capacity and cover operational costs".

The news led to a significant drop in Atlantic Sapphire's share value, and also provoked the departure of one of its major shareholders, major shareholder Blue Future Holding, an investment firm owned by Germany's EW Group, which divested its entire holdings of 2.42 million shares representing 3.95% company ownership, worth NOK 2.17 million (USD 210,000 / EUR 190,000).

However, other major shareholders in the company agreed to underwrite the share issue, including Nordlaks Holding AS (which owns 12.95% of the company), Condire Management LP (12.48%) and Strawberry Capital AS (8.57%).

Atlantic Sapphire intends to increase production capacity and achieve cash-positive operations by the end of 2025, CEO Pedro Courard said in an earnings call on August 20, 2024.