SalMar raises £313m through green bonds
The world’s second largest Atlantic salmon farmer, SalMar, has raised NOK 4.35 billion (£313 million) through the successful issuances of green bonds, it said in a stock market announcement.
The bond issues were in two tranches:
- NOK 3.25 billion in a five-year senior unsecured green bond issue with a floating rate of three months Nibor + 1.15% per annum
- NOK 1.10 billion in a seven-year senior unsecured green bond issue with a floating rate of three months Nibor + 1.35% per annum
An application will be made for the bonds to be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and settlement date is set to January 30, 2025, for both tranches.
Environmental benefits
Green bonds enable capital-raising and investment for new and existing projects with environmental benefits and have been used by large salmon farming companies such as SalMar, Mowi, and Lerøy.
In 2022 SalMar, which co-owns Scottish Sea Farms, documented how it spent the proceeds of a previous green bond issue.
The money was used for a new secondary processing facility expected to save 26,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually; on two new recirculating aquaculture system smolt facilities that used a lot less water than flow-through equivalents; and on refinancing of licences for Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified farms.
