Atlantic Sapphire set for expansion
ATLANTIC Sapphire has announced it is to scale up the second phase of its “Miami Bluehouse” salmon production at its Florida land-based farm.
The move will increase annual production from 15,000 tonnes gutted weight to 25,000 tonnes.
The company said the first fish are expected to be stocked into the new first phase facility by 2022, followed by increased harvest volumes 12 months later.
It announced: “Phase 2 will be integrated with phase 1 production, as the fish will hatch and grow to smolt size in the existing phase 1 smolt facility, then be transferred to phase 2 for the mid-cycle stage (0.3 - 3.0kg) before finally being moved into the existing phase 1 grow-out tanks for the last stage of its life cycle. This is advantageous, as the existing phase 1 has sufficient smolt, harvesting and filleting capacity to support the full 25,000 tonnes (heads on gutted weight).
“Further, increased smolt production while phase 2 is being constructed allows for rapid utilization of the new phase 2 capacity, decreasing construction completion to harvest ramp-up by approximately 10 months.”
Farm Credit – a US-based co-operative of independent lending institutions - and Norwegian bank DNB are providing loan finance for the expansion.
Chairman Johan E. Andreassen, said: “For Atlantic Sapphire, it is important to work with banks that truly understand the business of producing sustainable, high-quality proteins, and we believe there is no better team of industry experts than DNB and Farm Credit to partner with us on that mission.”
He added: “The company’s existing US $150m credit facility has been increased to US $200m, which is comprised of a fully-drawn US $50m term loan, a US $ 20m revolving credit facility and a US $ 32m committed term loan for phase 2 capital expenditures with a US $98m uncommitted accordion facility on the same terms and conditions as the company’s committed term loans.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that the company had applied to list on the US OTCQX stock market.