Bergen, Norway-headquartered Marine Harvest intends to fight a EUR 20 million fine imposed on it by the European Commission for what the EU’s executive body calls a “breach of the provisions of the European Merger Control Rules” during the acquisition of Morpol ASA.
The opinion of Marine Harvest, which is the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon, is that it acted in accordance with the requirements of the exception applying to public takeovers in its acquisition of Ustka, Poland-based Morpol last year. Morpol , which is engaged in purchasing, processing, packaging, sales and distribution of smoked, marinated, fresh and frozen salmon and other fish products, has sales and distribution centers in France, Germany (Laschinger Seafood), the UK, Italy and America.
“The take-over of Morpol was structured as an acquisition of the initial shareholding followed by an immediate mandatory offer,” said Marine Harvest in a statement. “(We) made it clear to both the market and Morpol that no control would be taken before the acquisition had been cleared by the EU.”
The company notified the Commission immediately following the acquisition and says it loyally adhered to the principle of not exercising its shareholders rights in Morpol until the Commission had cleared the transaction. Marine Harvest says that it has, throughout the period of the EC’s review, cooperated fully with the Commission.
The company further noted that the size of the fine appears to deviate significantly from similar cases where the Commission has applied fines.
The acquisition of Morpol, which is ranked as Europe’s biggest smoker of fish products, required Marine Harvest to divest farming capacity in Shetland with 11,000 tons, and in the Orkney Islands with 7,000 tons. Furthermore, the company divested freshwater capacity and primary processing plants in the same areas.
