Salmon Evolution raises NOK 300m in placement

The latest capital raising exercise by land-based fish farmer Salmon Evolution has brought in NOK 300m (£26.1m) for the company.

The share issue, in the form of a private placement on the Oslo stock exchange, allocated 33,333,333 offer shares at a subscription price of NOK 9.00 (£0.78) per share.

Salmon Evolution said: “The private placement attracted strong interest from Norwegian, Nordic and international high-quality investors and was significantly oversubscribed.”

The net proceeds from the private placement will be used to (i) to partly fund the second phase of the salmon farming facility at Indre Harøy, Norway; (ii) to expand capacity at the group’s smolt facility, Kraft Laks AS; and (iii) for “general corporate purposes”.

In a stock exchange statement, the company said that no decision for commencing the Phase 2 project at Indre Harøy has been made yet.

Salmon Evolution aims to grow salmon sustainably using hybrid flow-through system technology (HFS). Its Norwegian site, which recently saw the introduction of the first smolts, is designed for an annual capacity of approximately 31,500 tonnes.

The company has also entered into a joint venture with Dongwon Industries where the parties will develop, construct and operate a land-based salmon farming facility in South Korea with an annual production capacity of 16,800 tonnes HOG, also using Salmon Evolution’s HFS technology.

ABG Sundal Collier ASA, DNB Markets (a part of DNB Bank ASA), Nordea Bank Abp (filial i Norge) and Pareto Securities AS acted as joint bookrunners in connection with the private placement.