Bergen, Norway-headquartered Marine Harvest, one of the world leading seafood companies and a major producer of farmed salmon, announced on October 1 that Morpol is now officially part of the Marine Harvest Group following approval of the deal by the EU Commission.
“Morpol offers complimentary benefits to our company. Its activities and large range of high quality products fit very well with our current processing business as well as our downstream strategy,” said Marine Harvest CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog. “The acquisition will give our innovation and product development departments a strong boost. Together we can develop even more innovative and delicious seafood products for the consumer market.”
Morpol, which is ranked as Europe’biggest smoker of fish products, will remain listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange for the time being under the ticker code MORPOL. With the approval of the transaction, Marine Harvest can now exercise normal shareholder rights relating to its 87.1% ownership in Morpol ASA.
The deal complements existing output in Scotland with an increased production capacity of 6,000 tons, and in Norway with added capacity of 7,000 tons. In addition, the purchase opens up valuable new geographical areas for Marine Harvest. Morpol is well established in Norway’s Troms County, which will be an important area for Marine Harvest to pursue future growth in farming capacity.
As required for approving the purchase, Marine Harvest has agreed to divest farming capacity in Shetland with 11,000 tons, and in the Orkney Islands with 7,000 tons. Furthermore, the company has agreed to divest freshwater capacity and primary processing plants in the same areas. Based on previous transactions, this was — as a measure of precaution — already anticipated by the company and a process to fulfill the remedies will be initiated.
In a statement the the press, Marine Harvest Chairman Ole-Eirik Lerøy commented: “The purchase of Morpol is in line with our strategy of forming an innovative and integrated protein group. Our established position within salmon farming will be further complemented and our presence within value-added processing activities will take a giant leap. Our board of directors believes that this will provide significant operational benefits, as well as boosting and stabilizing the long term earnings power of the group.”
The acquisition of Morpol brings the Marine Harvest Group’s employee roster to 10,200, and production estimates for the Group in 2014 now exceed 400,000 tons. The company, which is active in 22 countries around the world, generates approximately 70% of its business from fish farming. Among other units in the group is Marine Harvest Value Added Europe (VAP). Situated in Brugge, Belgium, the VAP operation specializes in producing frozen and chilled fish-based recipes dishes for major retailers as well as foodservice operators.
