Salmon Evolution raises £27m to help take its second phase forward

Norwegian land based salmon company Salmon Evolution successfully raised the equivalent of just over £27m on the Oslo Stock Exchange last night.

The company had set out to bring in NOK 350 million via a private placement through the brokerages Arctic Securities, DNB Markets and Nordea as the facilitators , but in the end the figure was NOK 365 million (£27.1m).

Existing shareholders and members of the management had pre-subscribed shares for approximately NOK 81 million (£6m).

Among those shareholders was the South Korean company Dongwon Industries which has a major joint venture with Salmon Evolution in Korea.

Salmon Evolution describes itself as a global leader in land-based salmon farming with a clear roadmap for 100,000 tonnes head on gutted (HOG) annual production capacity.

Pioneering the hybrid flow-through system (HFS), Salmon Evolution says it is extending the ocean potential by creating optimal growth conditions in a controlled environment on land. The aim is to gain the benefits of both land-based and sea-based farming, while limiting operational and biological risk.

The company said that with the bank facilities in place it intends to move forward with the build out of phase two of its facility at Indre Harøy, north of Bergen.

After two years in operation and six batches successfully harvested in phase one, the company has identified several improvements in the production plan to be implemented in Phase two.

These, Salmon Evolution says, will result in an improved phase two, estimated to add another 10,100 tonne HOG (head on, gutted) capacity to the current phase one capacity of 7,900 tonnes.

Total output from phase one and phase two is estimated to increase to 18,000 tonnes. The increase in planned output from phase two will be achieved through added tank capacity leveraging existing infrastructure.

The currently estimated capital expenditure for the improved phase 2 at Indre Harøy is NOK 2,200 million (£163m) in addition to NOK 200 million (£15m) in project contingency, and includes the added tank capacity capex currently estimated at around NOK 350 million (£26m).