The Scottish Salmon Company, one of Scotland’s biggest producers of farmed fish, has been acquired by the Faroe Islands’ biggest salmon farmer, Bakkafrost.
Bakkafrost will take a 69% shareholding in the Edinburgh-based company from the current majority owner, the private equity firm Northern Link, a fund said to be backed by a Ukrainian investor, plus additional stakes belonging to other investors. In total, Bakkafrost now owns 77.8% of SSC’s total shares.
The Faroese firm is issuing a mandatory offer for the remaining freely traded equity. The total cost is €575m.
The fully integrated Faroese company says it expects to generate synergies in key areas, including feed, which it manufactures, and sales.
Regin Jacobsen, who has been the chief executive of Bakkafrost for the past 30 years, says: “Bakkafrost’s journey has been characterised by delivering industry leading growth and profitability combined with a focus on shareholder value creation.”
“The Scottish Salmon Company represents an attractive acquisition at this juncture providing exposure to the attractive and premium Scottish salmon farming region with potential for synergies and transfer of best practices. The entire Bakkafrost team is looking forward to working with the SSC management team to continue to enhance performance of the business and drive value in the years ahead.”
Robert Brown, chairman of the SSC board, says the board is “pleased with the outcome” of the strategic review that led to the sale, “reflecting the value that has been created in recent years. We are proud of what we have achieved.”
The Scottish Salmon Company, founded in 2007, operates from 60 sites across the west coast of Scotland and Hebrides and has more than 600 employees.
The company is the second-largest salmon farming firm by harvest volume in Scotland, producing 29,913 metric tons (MT) of salmon in 2018 and 18,463 MT of salmon in the first half of 2019.
To assist it in fulfilling its obligations, Bakkafrost will sell 85,806 shares of its own stock and will issue 4,800,000 new shares.
This article was originally published on faroeislands.fo
