Wellboat pioneer invests in land based salmon farming
SØLVTRANS founder Roger Halsebakk has jumped on the land based salmon bandwagon, investing in Norwegian company Salmon Evolution.
Halsebakk, owner of Ronja Capital, the world’s largest wellboat business, is the biggest new investor in the project, which aims to farm 36,000 tonnes of salmon using flow-through technology.
Salmon Evolution announced last month that it had raised an additional NOK 258 million (£19 million) from existing shareholders and new industrial owners.
Ronja Capital acquired a 19.6 per cent stake in the latest share issue, which saw shareholders inject NOK 107 million.
A week later, it was announced that
Salmon Evolution had elected a new chairman, with Tore A Tønseth, investment vice president at Ronja Capital, replacing Kristofer Reiten. Reiten will continue to serve as a director.
And CFO Håkon Andrè Berg has been made acting
CEO after Odd Tore Finnøy – who led the company up to the start of construction – opted to resign in consultation with the board. Salmon Evolution plans to farm off Indre Harøy in Hustadvika, utilising flow-through technology with reuse.
Ronja Capital said its faith in the firm was based on the technology chosen by Salmon Evolution in relation to growth opportunities, risk and return.
Tønseth said: ‘Salmon Evolution has a unique approach to such production, and we believe it has a clearly lower risk profile than many other projects.
‘Low biological risk has been the biggest consideration for us in assessing investment opportunities in land-based aquaculture.
‘Our view of the company hasn’t changed, despite the fluctuations in the financial market over recent months.
‘We’ve followed this project over a long time, and now want to contribute to the company’s continued development.’
The organisation building and part-financing of the first construction stage of the enterprise has now been completed, and the company said it is gearing up to meet its next challenges.