AquaMaof breaks ties with 8F and Pure Salmon.
For years, Pure Salmon, owned by investment fund 8F Asset Management, had touted its plans to build a series of farms around the world, aiming for 260,000 tonnes of salmon production annually. Key to this was the company’s relationship with Israeli RAS supplier AquaMoaf Aquaculture Technologies.
In partnership with AquaMaof, the two companies together reckoned to be able to produce salmon for three dollars per kilo. With a salmon price of around €6, for an EBIT per kilo of €3.3. Given a sale of 260 million kilos of salmon, it could the better part of a billion euros annually.
Such is the scale of Pure Salmon’s ambition, that were it to succeed in realising its production targets, it would be the world’s second largest fish farming company, behind only Mowi.
Broken down
To this end, the asset management company has raised more than $350 million from various sources including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance institutions, as well as strategic stakeholders such as fish-feed giant Nutreco and leading global agricultural group Louis Dreyfus Company.
One of the most significant investments in the company was made by Brunei’s Strategic Development Investment Fund, which, in 2019, signed a memorandum of understanding with 8F for the construction of a 10,000 tonne salmon farm in the country.
Now, however, it seems the relationship between 8F and AquaMaof has broken down.
Mutual respect
Speaking to SalmonBusiness, a spokesperson for Aquamaof confirmed the rumour, “We are in the process of discussions to separate the parties keeping a good spirit and mutual respect.”
“To separate the parties was a mutual decision. Both sides are in a good relationship, and we are hoping that all the details will be finalized soon and then we will be able to share more information.”
AquaMaof owns 50 per cent of Pure Salmon’s plant in Poland, and is rumoured to be seeking full ownership of this plant as part of any divorve deal.
Now 8F is left with a large sum of money received from investors but no proven technology vendor capable of building RAS farms at such scale.
