This story is being updated.
Company enters receivership after minority shareholders acquire $21.6-million debt.
Land-based Atlantic salmon farmer Sustainable Blue is set to enter receivership following a move by minority shareholders Thane Stevens and Jim Lawley.
The duo, after acquiring the company’s $21.6-million bank debt, filed for the appointment of Deloitte Restructuring Inc. as the receiver for Sustainable Blue and its related entities, known collectively as the SFFC Group, according to local media outlet AllNovaScotia.com.
This action follows the loss of 100,000 of the company’s largest fish and the resultant financial difficulties.
“The only thing I can confirm at this stage is that the story is accurate and that we will comment further in due course,” CEO Kirk Havercroft told SalmonBusiness.
The company, headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, faced a significant setback when a key system component failed, leading to a substantial loss of stock.
Equipment failure at land-based salmon farm kills $3.7 million worth of fish
To mitigate the immediate financial crisis, minority shareholders had extended loans amounting to $2.3 million.
However, the company has been unable to repay these loans, leading to the current receivership proceedings.
The company’s investor base includes high-profile individuals such as Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, with major shareholdings controlled by the Middle Eastern company Bayt Al Qoot.
Sustainable Blue, originally founded in England in 1995 and relocated to Nova Scotia in 2007, has been hailed by conservationists, including Public Lands Commissioner of Washington State, Hilary Franz, as the future of aquaculture.
The future of the company and its 32 staff members now hinges on the outcome of the receivership process and the potential restructuring of its business and ownership.
