Formed by a consortium of investors who want to work to promote the local and sustainable salmon farming industry in Sweden, Cibonum Group brings some of Sweden's largest investors into land-based aquaculture business through active ownership of RE:OCEAN.
Well-known names such as Pelle Törnberg – owner of SeaBay Capital -, Per Josefsson – hedge fund manager, philanthropist and one of the founders and main owners of Brummer&Partners -, or Per Lindberg – CEO of NASDAQ first north listed company -, join Ikea heir Mathias Kamprad in this adventure.
Since RE:OCEAN announced last year the project to build a large-scale, sustainable, land-based farming facility in Säffle to produce salmon locally in Sweden, support for the project has continued to grow. Backed from the outset by Sweden's three leading grocery retailers Axfood, Coop and ICA, while still in the construction phase the company has already signed an agreement with Magnussons Fisk for distribution in Sweden.
Now, Cibonum announces its intention to be "a clear, active and long-term main owner in RE:OCEAN, which will support the company from start to completion and long-term expansion to pave the way for sustainable and healthy foods." Thus, the Group adds to the main objective of this project: to increase Swedish self-sufficiency in salmon, which today is almost 100% imported.
"We will be the financial anchor for RE:OCEAN and together with our industry knowledge we provide a solid foundation for RE:OCEAN's expansion and its mission to innovate salmon farming in Sweden," said Anders Svensson, Chairman of Cibonum Group. "RE:OCEAN is revolutionizing the fish industry with a land-based salmon farm in Säffle that can meet 20% of Swedish consumers' demand for salmon. We as owners share a strong commitment to a local and sustainable production of healthy food."
With a production forecast of 10,000 tons by 2026, through its hyper-modern production facility in Säffle, RE:OCEAN aims to supply the Swedish retail and foodservice sector with locally produced salmon of the highest quality and taste. However, that is not the only goal of the company, which also wants to offer salmon that is healthy and climate-positive, a critical point in its philosophy that has been key to the entry of the new investors.
"RE:OCEAN is a fantastic example of positive change when it comes to the environment and innovations," stated Ikea heir, Mathias Kamprad. "Local, land-based, sustainable fish farming enables more valuable protein sources at a lower cost for many people, while ensuring environmentally friendly production and reduced emissions, e.g. from transport. When the plant in Sweden is in full-scale production, the solution will be able to be applied in other parts of the world so that more people get better and cheaper environmentally smart food."
This is not Ikea's first investment in the blue economy. Earlier this year, a sister company of the Swedish furniture giant invested €30 million in the impact fund Ocean 14 Capital. The RE:OCEAN project – which in addition to the aforementioned agreement with Magnussons Fisk has also made public others with sushi supplier Natsu Foods for the German sushi retail market, or with Kalatukku E. Eriksson for distribution in Finland -, also has the support of the EU climate bank, which is one of its investors since last December.
RE:OCEAN wants to revolutionize the fishing industry with land-based salmon farming at a large-scale facility in Säffle, Sweden. When the facility is at full capacity, starting in 2026, it will be able to locally produce 10,000 tons of healthy, sustainable salmon each year in a plant where 99.99% of all water will be recycled in a closed environment and which will use 100% fossil-free energy to run the facility. The company, which is still raising capital to complete the project, aims to cover 20 percent of Swedish salmon consumption in the future.
