Iceland salmon farmer’s shares ‘oversubscribed multiple times’
Icelandic salmon farmer Ice Fish Farm has announced the completion of a private placement of shares with total gross proceeds of NOK 301.5 million (£24.9m), combined with a sale of existing shares from minority shareholders in the company for approximately NOK 89 million.
“The transaction received strong interest from Norwegian and international high-quality investors and was oversubscribed multiple times,” the company said in a stock exchange statement.
The net proceeds from the share issue will primarily be used to invest in further production growth within existing licences. This includes the expansion of smolt capacity, new equipment and biomass build-up.
Loan repayments
In addition, part of the proceeds will be used to repay two outstanding convertible loans to Norwegian salmon farmer Midt-Norsk Havbruk AS, for a total of around NOK 59m.
Midt-Norsk Havbruk is a subsidiary of integrated aquaculture company NTS AS, which held a majority stake in Fiskeldi Austfjarða hf, the company that has now become Ice Fish Farm AS.
Ice Fish Farm has applied for the necessary permits from the Oslo Stock Exchange, and subject to approval will list the company’s shares on Norway’s Merkur Market. The first day the shares can be traded on Merkur is expected to be on or around Monday, June 8, 2020.
