SalMar set to take over Norway Royal Salmon
SALMAR and Norway Royal Salmon announced, on 30 May, that they had entered into an agreement to merge the two businesses, with SalMar the acquiring company.
An Oslo Stock Exchange statement said the purpose of the merger is to increase value creation in the regions in which the two companies operate, and to make it possible to realise synergies between the companies.
The deal is conditional on NRS’s acquisition of SalmoNor AS being carried out immediately prior to the completion of the merger, and that all conditions for the implementation of SalMar’s voluntary offer for the shares in NTS ASA has been fulfilled or finally dropped, or the voluntary offer has been completed.
SalmoNor, like NRS, is part of the NTS group. Previously, the NTS board had blocked NRS from merging with SalmoNor.
It is not yet clear what will happen to SalMar’s bid for the rest of the NTS group, which includes the wellboat supply business Frøy which was awaiting competition authority approval.
SalMar and Norway Royal Salmon said both parties have several overlapping industrial activities, both in Norway, the West Fjords in Iceland and in offshore aquaculture, making it possible to realise major synergies.
The announcement states that both parties have a long career in, and expertise from, salmon farming in Norway.
The new NRS smolt plant in Dåfjord outside Tromsø and SalMar’s development of the Senja 2 and Tjuin plants, together with both companies’ existing smolt capacity, are described as “valuable resources to ensure the delivery of the right smolt at the right time and facilitate improved biological performance throughout the value chain.”
SalMar’s new processing plant at Senja, InnovaNor, will secure “significant additional volumes” through the merger, the statement said, which would provide economies of scale as well as a reduction in biological risk.
SalmoNor is located in Rørvik, which is located in production area 7, which the statement said means it will complement SalMar’s operations in Central Norway.
The statement also said the merger will provide improved access to customers worldwide.
SalMar chairman Leif Inge Nordhammer, said:“A merger between SalMar and NRS makes sense.We are now merging strong teams that constitute the best aquaculture expertise in Norway. The merger also enables us to extract synergies better and faster than by simply implementing SalMar’s voluntary offer to acquire all shares in NTS. ”
Vibecke Bondø, Chairman of the NTS group – which is currently majority owner of NRS and SalmoNor, and itself is in the process of being acquired by SalMar – and Linda Litlekalsøy Aase, CEO of SalMar hailed the combined business as a powerful new force in Norway’s salmon sector.
Bondø said:“The merger creates a powerful unit that can realise significant synergies. SalMar has a strong history of operations, profitability and local development, and the shareholders in NTS will therefore, through SalMar, have an even greater potential for further positive value development than through NRS alone.”