Atlantic Sapphire raises $55m after seeing ‘strong demand’ for shares
Private placement up-sized as land-based salmon farmer seeks to buy time to reach profitability
Land-based salmon farmer Atlantic Sapphire has raised US $55 million gross with a private placement of shares, which is $5 m more than originally planned.
“The deal size in the private placement was up-sized based on strong investor demand from the initially announced NOK equivalent of $50 million,” Florida-based Atlantic Sapphire said in a market announcement.
The net proceeds from the share issue will be used to provide the company with “sufficient financial runway, including a buffer”, to achieve Phase 1 steady-state production and profitability at its Bluehouse facility in Miami Dade County.
Full capacity utilisation of the Phase 1 facility will be reached when annualised biomass gain and harvest volumes are estimated to ~9,500 gutted weight tonnes.
Any remaining cash buffer may be utilised by the company for Phase 2 expansion, which will take capacity to 25,000 gwt.
Nordlaks
The private placement was aimed at Norwegian and foreign investors. Shares were prices at NOK 5, below market price, and were offered to existing shareholders first.
The biggest spender was Nordlaks, Norway’s eighth largest salmon farmer, which held a 4.77% stake in Atlantic Sapphire on December 31 last year. It was allocated 21,611,600 offer shares for a total subscription amount of NOK 108,058,000 ($10 m).
Strawberry Equities AS (6.02% stake on December 31) was allocated 14,047,540 offer shares for a total subscription amount of NOK 70,237,700 ($6.5 m).
Blue Future Holding AS, part of the German EW Group that owns salmon ova supplier AquaGen and tilapia breeding specialist GenoMar, was allocated 10,000,000 shares for NOK 50 m, as was property company Joh Johannson Eiendom AS.
Atlantic Sapphire’s board has also adopted an intention to carry out a subsequent offer of up to 20 million new shares with gross proceeds of up to NOK 100 million.
