Uncertainty about funding causes stock price to fall.
Proximar Seafood, which will build a land-based salmon farming facility in Japan, has had a tough start to its stock market presence. The share price has halved since the IPO at the beginning of February.
On Thursday, board member Helge Nielsen, through the company Helida, reported having purchased 25,000 shares in Proximar Seafood at a price of NOK 9.41 per share. He thus makes as big a purchase as the day before. The difference is only that the price is NOK 0.58 cheaper.
The reason why the Proximar stock price has fallen so much this spring is due to uncertainty related to financing. The company has a total capital requirement of EUR 120 million, according to the company’s presentation material ahead of the IPO.
Here, the company was presented with attractive loan terms from two Japanese banks. Not one word of bonds was mentioned when Proximar aimed to raise equity from investors, the business newspaper Finansavisen reports.
Now investment banks ABG Sundal Collier and Nordea are hunting investors for a bond loan for the company. Without revenues until 2024, and with great capital requirements related to both investment and operations, that financing will not be cheap, market participants Finansavisen has been in contact with.
“We are still working on long-term bank financing as previously communicated. No changes there. We are now probing the possibility of a bond as part of debt financing,” said CFO Pål Grimsrud to the publication.
“We have always been clear that we are not fully funded yet. Bonds are one of several possible tools in line with other sources of capital,” he added.
The Grieg family and Skretting owner Nutreco are among the largest shareholders in Proximar Seafood.
