SalMar owner’s new investment entity, Kverva Technolocy, set up to handle growing portfolio
“We are a company of 900 staff and we saw sales worth 2 billion kroner in the concern. We have a presence in 11 countries — from Hobarth in Tasmania to Campbell River in Canada,” said Kent Zehetner.
He’s head of technology in Kverva Technology, the Kverva business founded in 2017. The company’s board is comprised of Kverva execs Helge Moen, Thomas Jessen and Bjorn Wiggen.
Gaining control
SalMar’s main shareholder, Gustav Witzoe, is finetuning his stakes in supply chain companies focused on aquaculture. Newly established Kverva Technology, owned by Witzoe’s holding company, Kverva, owns 90.1 percent of equipment duo Steinsvik and Aqualine plus 50 percent of fish-fitness expert, Patogen, and 25 percent of factory vessel operator, Napier.
“We want to build the industry’s leading supplier,” Zehetner said, asserting that a smaller environmental footprint is a main driver behind the investments.
Big potential market
Zehetner pointed to disease, sea lice and mortalities as the greatest challenges and therefore where the real opportunity lay, since they represent a hit to the industry of between EUR 1.5 billion and EUR 2 billion a year.
The tech-director wasn’t shy about the significant Witzoe-Kverva growth aspirations in the segment.
“We’re looking for more companies. We want to be growth partners with entrepreneurs,” said Zehetner, whose background is in computer vision at weather and technology frontrunner, Storm Geo.
