Andjord Salmon raises loan facility to NOK 825m

Land based fish farmer Andfjord Salmon has increased its bank lending facility to NOK 825 million (£60m), it was disclosed in an Oslo Stock Exchange announcement today.

Andfjord has also announced a “strategic partnership” with fish handling technology business Cflow.

The news of the increased debt capital comes less than a week after the company secured loans totalling NOK 700m (£51m) to fund the next stage of its development in the Nordland village of Kvalnes.

Last week’s loan was issued by SpareBank1 with partners including Eksfin at an interest rate corresponding to 3.9% plus Nibor.

Now Andfjord has said: “The company is pleased to announce that SpareBank 1 SMN has today confirmed their commitment to take part in the bank consortium, increasing the total lending commitment to NOK 825 million”.

This “construction loan” is a new, increased facility that will replace the NOK 125m (£9.1m) leasing facility set out in the earlier loan documentation.

Other key terms of the construction loan are unchanged from Andfjord Salmon’s capital markets update on 13 June.

Meanwhile, the deal with Cflow aims to establish controlled and predictable production processes at the Kvalnes plant.

“Through this collaboration, we will merge our expertise in land-based aquaculture with Cflow’s technology, enabling safe and sustainable production processes for live fish,” said Martin Rasmussen, CEO of Andfjord Salmon. “Technology plays a vital role in the modernisation of aquaculture. Having control over factors influencing fish welfare and the environment leads to optimised operations, energy efficiency, and predictable production.”

Gunnar Hoff, CMO of Cflow, added: “This partnership empowers Cflow to apply our unique competence and solution portfolio to contribute to the significant progress in land-based aquaculture. Land-based aquaculture offers unparalleled advantages by allowing comprehensive control and monitoring of factors affecting fish welfare, biosecurity, and byproduct management. Through the collection of historical data, in-depth analyses, and harnessing our interdisciplinary expertise, we will ensure a safe project implementation and predictable production processes.”

Located at Kvalnes on the island of Andøya on the Arctic Archipelago of Vesterålen, Andfjord Salmon says it has developed an innovative and sustainable aquaculture concept for land based farming of Atlantic salmon, based on a flow-through technology solution.

The company’s ambition is to build the world’s most sustainable and fish-friendly aquaculture facility of its kind.

It says that, as part of the upcoming construction stage, Andfjord Salmon is planning to establish major infrastructure to support 40,000 tonnes of production at Kvalnes with further expansion investments towards full production capacity planned to follow in sequence.

From left: Project Manager Tom Christian Dahl (Cflow) CMO Gunnar Hoff (Cflow) and Project Director Jostein Nilssen (Andfjord Salmon)