Media tycoon and hedge fund manager Yuriy Lopatynskyy betting on genetically-modified salmon at AquaBounty.
In a financial filing on Wednesday, GM fish farmer AquaBounty which is behind the outfit currently producing genetically engineered-fast growing salmon (AquaAdvantage), posted a statement of beneficial ownership of common stock by certain persons.
In January, the biotech company offered USD 10 million of shares so it could use the net proceeds to improve its facilities Rollo Bay and Indiana, USA, where it’s growing its first batches of fish, expected later on in the year.
In the document, it was revealed that the statement was filed by Sopica Special Opportunities Fund (SSOF), Sopica Global Retail Growth Fund (SGRGF) and LLF Financial (LLFF).
LLFF is the investment manager of each of SSOF and SGRGF – and Yuriy Lopatynskyy, a leading figure in Moscow’s financial scene for the past three decades, owns half of the equity interests of LLFF.
Lopatynskyy – used to control a majority share of the Scottish Salmon Company, through the Swiss-registered investment company SIX SIS before it was sold to Bakkafrost last September. SIX SIS still retains a small number of shares in the salmon farmer.
SSOF owns 511,192 shares and SGRGF owns 2,650,000 shares in AquaBounty Technologies. As a result, LLFF holds 3,161,192 shares, representing 9.9 per cent of the outstanding shares in the company.
Last week, a spokesperson for AquaBounty confirmed to SalmonBusiness that it was on track for its Q4 harvest.
