The board of the Icelandic salmon farmers Ice Fish Farm had formally approved a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of fish farming company Laxar at the end of April.
In a stock exchange notice posted at the end of May, Ice Fish Farm confirmed that the acquisition of Laxar was finished, with the transaction of all shares in Laxar and 33% of shares in Búlandstindur having been completed. The consideration for the shares amounted to NOK 1,358,420,339 (€135 million).
Read also: Ice Fish Farm board approves acquisition of Laxar
“The merger will create a potential for significant synergies. Diversification of production will be significantly improved, with farming activities spread across 15 sites and 4 fjords,” the announcement explained.
“Furthermore, increased scale is expected to increase negotiation position for procurement and have other benefits on the production cost per kilo (e.g. well boat, service vessel, harvesting costs). The company already has capacity in place to supply its operating sites with post-smolt, and the average size of smolts are expected to increase going forward, where the size of the smolt will be between 300g and 1200g – ultimately reducing the time in sea and increase production,” it continued.
Read also: Ice Fish Farm sells its shares in smolt producer Isthor to Arnarlax for €32 million
“The goal is to operate a sustainable and profitable salmon operation. Ice Fish Farm now has MAB licenses for 43,800 tonnes and an application for additional 10,000 tonnes,” the notice concluded.
The completion of the acquisition comes after Ice Fish Farm signed a deal to sell all of its shares in smolt producer Isthor to Arnarlax for €32 million. The shares constituted 50 percent ownership of Isthor.
Ice Fish Farm said it will focus its growth strategy in other smolt facilities that it owns completely. “Cost of building more capacity is similar as we are selling Isthor at. Our growth plans of 8-million smolts with average size of 400 grams is unchanged,” the company stated.
