Marine Harvest rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 28, marking the beginning of a new era for the Bergen, Norway-headquartered salmon farming company.
“This is a big day for Marine Harvest and the salmon farming industry,” said CEO Alf-Helge Aarsko who, together with Chairman Ole Eirik Lerøy, had the honor of ringing the bell and inaugurating trading of the company’s shares under the “MHG” ticker symbol.
Applauding Marine Harvest’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange are (left to right): Tor Olav Trøim, board member; Kristine Gramstad, communications director; Leif Frode Onarheim, board member; Henrik Heiberg, vice president of finance and treasurer; Cecilie Fredriksen, board member; Duncan Niederauer, ceo of tne New York Stock Exchange; Ole Eirik Lerøy, chairman of the board; John Fredriksen, principal shareholder; Alf-Helge Aarskog, chief executive officer; Ola Helge Hjetland, communications manager; Ingrid Erlandsen, IR contact manager; Ivan Vindheim, chief financial officer.
Marine Harvest, which is capitalized at approximately $5 billion, is the first vertically integrated aquaculture enterprise to be listed on the NYSE. The company currently claims about 22% of the global production of farmed Atlantic salmon, which is the most industrialized and commercially developed aquaculture specie.
“According to the United Nations, the world must increase its food production by 70% by 2050. As much as 70% of the globe is covered by water, yet, only six percent of the world’s protein supply is sourced from the oceans today. The potential is enormous,” said Aarskog.
As such Marine Harvest’s international team, which consists of some 10,400 employees in 22 countries, continues to gear up further to boost output and feed more people.
“Our vision is to be ‘leading the blue revolution’ – something similar to what happened 5,000 years ago with the agriculture revolution when people moved from hunting and fishing to agriculture. We want to elevate aquaculture to be comparable to agriculture and beyond,” Aarskog commented.
The listing gives Marine Harvest greater exposure to a larger part of the investment community in the United States. The company, which has been listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange for some time, should benefit from being aligned to the major land-based protein producers listed in the US.
Salmon production for Marine Harvest during the fourth quarter of 2013 totaled 103,000 tons, of which 68,000 tons were harvested in Norway. Farms in Chile produced 14,000 tons, compared to 12,000 in Scotland, 6,000 in Canada and 3,000 elsewhere.
