Son of SalMar founder comes in from cold

Gustav Magnar Witzøe, son of the founder of the salmon giant SalMar, has joined the board of family-owned group Kvarv.

It had previously been reported that he wanted to remain outside active business and had considered moving to Switzerland at one point last year.

Now the financial website E.24 says he has been part of the Kvarv board for the past several months.

Witzøe Junior said that the move had been motivated by a feeling of responsibility.

While the SalMar founder Gustav Witzøe controls the company with his A list shares which give voting rights, his son Gustav Magnar Witzøe, holds 97% of the shares in Kvarv. The company is the Witzøe family’s investment vehicle, and previously owned a controlling stake in the SalMar Group.

With a fortune of almost £2bn (NOK 26.5bn) Gustav Magnar Witzøe is one of Norway’s richest young men but has so far remained outside active salmon farming, the business in which his father clearly excels. However, he did work on fish farms as a youngster.

Whether this new involvement brings him closer to the practical end of aquaculture remains to be seen.

Like his father, he was born on the Norwegian island of Frøya, but today his interests centre around the arts such as the New York Met Gala.

Gustav Witzøe senior

E.24 says that Kvarv last year had an operating income of NOK 37.4bn (£2.6bn), an increase of 35% on the previous year.

Gustav Magnar Witzøe is said to have joined the board of the family group in October, not long after he rejected the idea of moving to Switzerland.

He said his decision was taken with great respect for the history of the business, adding that it presented opportunities to make things better.

He explained: “The greater opportunities we have been given in life, the greater responsibility we have to contribute with the resources we have, whether it is ideas, finances or creative power.”