The European Commission building in Brussels, in June 2025.
Photo: Tobias Arhelger / Adobe Stock.
After receiving notification of Mowi's Nova Sea takeover project on September 12, the European Commission expressed its doubts on Monday about the operation, which will be placed under scrutiny.
"On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation," reads the prior notification of a concentration published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
"However, the final decision on this point is reserved," added the notification, in which the EU Commission also invited interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed concentration within a maximum period of ten days from the date of publication of the notification, September 22.
In its notification, the Commission explains that Mowi is a global seafood company and producer of Norwegian Farmed Atlantic Salmon (NFAS), operating across the full value chain through feed, farming and global sales and processing, while Nova Sea is a Norwegian seafood company, active only in the farming and primary processing of NFAS in Norway.
It also says that the concentration is accomplished by way of the purchase of shares. When Mowi announced on January 30 that it had signed a deal to become the majority owner of Nova Sea, acquiring 95% of the company, it also stated that this stake could increase to 100%, as it would make a voluntary cash offer on similar terms to Nova Sea shareholders who own the remaining 5%.
In light of the European Commission's notification, the Norwegian salmon giant has achieved its goal of acquiring 100% of the company, as, according to the EU notification, within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation, Mowi will acquire sole control of the whole of Nova Sea.
If the EU Commission finally gives the green light to Mowi's Nova Sea takeover, according to the terms announced in January, the former will pay NOK 7.4 billion (EUR 625 million) for the transaction, purchasing Vigner Olaisen's 46% majority stake through a deal consisting of 30% in Mowi shares and 70% in cash.
For Nova Sea shareholders who own the remaining 5%, the voluntary cash offer would be on similar terms, for NOK 0.8 billion (EUR 68.47 million). Before January's agreement, Mowi was already one of Nova Sea's main minority owners since 1995, owning 49% of the company.
In the same release, Mowi stated that, with the acquisition of Nova Sea, its projected harvest volume for 2025 for its operations in northern Norway will increase to 157,000 tons, and to 367,000 tons in total for Norway. This was maintained in its Q1 2025 and Q2 2025 results reports, where it counted on Nova Sea's harvest to meet its target of harvesting 600,000 tons next year.
Whether Mowi's plans will be carried out according to schedule or not is now in the hands of the European Commission, which, depending on the stage of the process, could have up to 65 working days to issue its final decision.
Meanwhile, Nova Sea continues to operate as usual - at the end of June, for example, it completed the release of fish into its new deep farming solution provided by Smir -, as stated in March by Nova Sea President Aino Olaisen, when she announced the resignation of Tom Eirik Aasjord as CEO of the company for personal reasons, and her appointment to the position.
"Until any approval from the competition authorities is granted, Nova Sea will continue to operate as we always have. In the meantime, I will step in as an executive chairperson. The company has skilled leaders at all levels, and we will continue to produce the world's finest salmon," she then said.
In January, Mowi announced its intention to propose the president of Nova Sea as a new member of the board of directors. Therefore, if the European Union competition authorities finally give their approval to the merger, Aino Olaisen will take a seat at the table of the Norwegian salmon giant.
