BioMar has agreed to divest its 50.71 percent ownership interest in the Norwegian fish farming business Sjøtroll Havbruk (Photo: Sjøtroll Havbruk/FIS)

BioMar Selling Shares in Sjøtroll

The Boards of Directors of Lerøy Seafood Group ASA (OSE: LSG) and BioMar have entered into an agreement to the effect that Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) will purchase 50.71 percent of the shares in Sjøtroll Havbruk AS. Sjøtroll Havbruk AS is active in the production of fry/smolt and farming of fish for consumption, and also slaughtering and processing.

BioMar produces feed for salmon, trout, eel, sea-bass and sea-bream

The company's farming of fish for consumption is provided by 25 salmon and salmon trout-farming licences. Sjøtroll Havbruk AS also has a 27.5 percent shareholding in the breeding company SalmoBreed AS. Sjøtroll Havbruk AS has an annual forecast for 2011 of 26,000 gutted weight tonnes of salmon and salmon trout. The company has about 250 employees.

Sjøtroll Havbruk AS has a 27.5 percent shareholding on SalmoBreed, a company that develops genetic material suitable for future production of Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout

The shares are being bought for NOK 540 million, which is equivalent to an enterprise value as at August of NOK 1,298 million on a 100 percent basis. NOK 408.5 millon of the cost of the shares is being paid in cash, while the remainder is being paid in the form of 1 million shares in LSG at a share price of NOK 131.5.

BioMar's Chairman

Jens Bjerg Sørensen, chairman of BioMar, is very pleased with the di-vestment: "We've achieved a good return on our investment, and we see Lerøy as a good future owner of Sjøtroll." BioMar supplies most of the feed used by Sjøtroll, and the current feed contract will continue unchanged. "BioMar and Lerøy have a long-standing business relationship, and I expect the good relations to continue," says Jens Bjerg Sørensen.

The transaction is planned for mid-November 2010. The transaction is fully financed.

BioMar's CEO

BioMar’s Group CEO Torben Svejgard is also very pleased: “We have strategically decided not to be in farming, as we do not want to compete with our customers and with the sale of Sjøtroll we have again brought us into that position. I do also believe that the sale is not only optimal for Lerøy, Sjøtroll and BioMar, but will on top of this imply even better planning of zones, etc. and thereby contribute to an even safer production, improved fish health, etc. This will especially benefit the region, but also Norwegian farming in general.”

The Board of Directors and the management of LSG are both extremely satisfied with what has been achieved by the agreement that has been entered into, and they look forward to further developing Sjøtroll Havbruk AS together with the company's shareholders, management and employees.

Following the purchase, LSG will have a production of salmon and salmon trout from 130 licenses in Norway, as well as significant production in Scotland. The group also has its own roe production and sufficiently meets the needs for high-quality smolt. As a result of the buy-out, the Group's central activities in the areas of fish-farming, processing, sales and distribution allow it to benefit from significant synergies.

BioMar is one of the leading suppliers of high performance fish feed to the aquaculture industry

About BioMar Group

The BioMar Group is one of the leading suppliers of high performance fish feed to the aquaculture industry. The group’s main business areas are feed for salmon and trout in Norway, the United Kingdom, and Chile, and feed for trout, eel, sea-bass, and sea-bream in Continental Europe.

About Lerøy Seafood Group

Lerøy Seafood Group is the leading exporter of seafood from Norway and is in business of meeting the demand for food and culinary experiences inNorway and internationally by supplying seafood products through selected distributors to producers, institutional households and consumers. The Group's core activities are distribution, sale and marketing of seafood, processing of seafood, production of salmon, trout and other species, as well as product development.

The Group operates through subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden, France and Portugal and through a network of sales offices that ensure its presence in the most important markets. The Group's task is to satisfy the customer's requirements for cost-effective and continuous supplies of a wide range of high-quality seafood products. 

Margaret E.L. Stacey
Editor Companies and Products
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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