Grieg formally seals Shetland assets sale
GRIEG Seafood has formally completed the sale of its Shetland business to Scottish Sea Farms.
The deal, reported to be worth £164m (NOK 1.9bn), was cleared by the UK competition authorities in December.The sale assets include 21 salmon farms across Shetland and Skye, a freshwater facility and a salmon processing plant.
“Grieg Seafood Shetland Ltd” is now “SSF Shetland Ltd”.
Grieg CEO Andreas Kvame said:“The sale represents an important milestone in our communicated strategy to concentrate future farming activities in Norway and Canada, where we see the largest potential for profitable and sustainable growth.
“Following a three-year period of restructuring and operational improvement, our Shetland business has been turned around.
“The region has improved sea lice control and survival significantly, and delivered solid profits during the two previous quarters. I am pleased to say that we hand over operations in good shape.”
He added:“I want to sincerely thank all our Shetland employees for their impressive efforts and dedication to Grieg Seafood, especially during the difficult times of the pandemic.
“I am confident that the Shetland business is in good hands [with Scottish Sea Farms] and that salmon farming will continue to create value for the local communities in Shetland for years to come.”
Grieg, which plans to concentrate on its Norwegian and Canadian operations, said it was aiming for global growth, cost improvements repositioning the company in the market through downstream partnership.
Scottish Sea Farms is jointly owned by two of Norway’s largest salmon farmers, SalMar and the Lerøy Seafood Group.