On Monday this week, it was announced that Norwegian salmon farmer, SalMar, submitted a bid of NOK 120 per share for its competitor NTS. In connection with this, it was established that SalMar had received irrevocable advance acceptances for the offer from shareholders who together own 23.6 per cent of the shares in the smaller company.
Just after lunch on Wednesday, SalMar announced it had received further advance acceptances for the offer from the shareholders Nils Williksen, TerBoLi Invest and Rodo Invest, which together own 26.5 per cent of NTS.
SalMar produces approximately 180,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon in Norway and the acquisition of NTS would add a further 100,000 tonnes per year to that total, raising it above Cermaq, Lerøy and AquaChile to second place behind only Mowi in the ranking of the largest salmon farmers in the world.
Control
With this, SalMar has secured irrevocable advance acceptances for 50.1 per cent of the shares in the company.
Nils Martin Williksen, on behalf of Nils Williksen AS, said: “SalMar represents
a very good industrial solution, also locally in Rørvik and Namdalen, so this is
something we believe will serve all parties well. And with a large component of the consideration in SalMar shares, we are still in participating in the
continued development of the business.”
He received support from Terje Bondø, on behalf of TerBoLi Invest.
History of local development
“We found a good industrial solution at a fair value. SalMar has a fantastic track record of local development, operational excellence and profitability, so we are confident that they will be a good partner to further develop this in a good way, and secure life on the quayside and lights in the homes,” said Bondø.
Farming veteran Roald Dolmen, in Rodo Invest, also supports SalMar.
“Rodo is just one of 14 shareholders who wanted to sell, and the offer from SalMar was something that all of us could support. We believe in continued growth together with SalMar, and also are able to free up some capital that we can invest in our other business initiatives in the region,” he said.
The preconditions
Mowi CEO Ivan Vindheim stated earlier today that his company withdrew its bid, of NOK 110, as the conditions for the bid, especially acceptance from 50 per cent of the shareholders, fell away with SalMar’s bid.
“Our interest is still there, and if the conditions change, we will look at it again, because we think it is a good match for us. That should not surprise anyone,” said Vindheim.
Now it seems that the prerequisites for Mowi control in NTS are gone.
