In the biggest news in the fish world since Godzilla took on the Loch Ness Monster, Marine Harvest announced today (30 April) a takeover offer for their big rival in the shape of Norwegian salmon farming giant Cermaq.
Reuters reported earlier today on the deal worth $1.69 billion:
Read also via The Wall Street Journal: "Marine Harvest to Place Bid for Cermaq"
The takeover was all the talk of the trade press with the news dominating the headlines in Intrafish:
The takeover pits two of Norway's biggest heavyweights in the same ring: in one corner is the 'Viking Raider' - Norway's richest man John Fredriksen (owner of Marine Harvest).
In the other corner is Cermaq's CEO Jon Hindar and the Norwegian Government (as the largest shareholder of the state-owned multinational).
The fight could be a dirty one indeed - Forbes famously described John Fredriksen as "a murky character notorious for rowdy drinking binges and playing rough with takeover targets". Cermaq, meanwhile, are currently embroiled in the 'Salmon Farming Kills' legal battle and are taking a hard-line approach in censoring critcism of the salmon farming industry. As the two behemoths go head to head and start slinging mud it will be an interesting spectator sport for sure!
Cermaq's CEO is keeping mum on the merger for the time being with a "no comment" reply to trade bible Intrafish:
Marine Harvest's chairman told Intrafish that "this is just the beginning of our development":
Marine Harvest's owner John Fredrisken is a very big fish in the salmon farming pond. Fredriksen is the 87th richest man in the world world worth $11.5 billion according to the Forbes Rich List and goes by the nickname 'Storeulv' (Big Wolf) - the name of Fredriksen's unauthorized biography.
Watch Fredriksen in the film 'Salmonopoly'
Norway is one of the richest countries in the world and already controls the majority of salmon farming in the world with Marine Harvest and Cermaq together accounting for over a quarter of salmon farming globally.
Intrafish reported (30 April) that the merged company would be "one of the largest seafood companies on the planet":
If the merger went ahead, the new Marine Harvest would account for 79% of the salmon farms in British Columbia - according to the following data from Farmed & Dangerous:
Undercurrent News reported (30 April):
“A combination of Marine Harvest and Cermaq will create a global seafood leader
based upon a complete footprint along the Norwegian coast,” said Marine Harvest.
Read more via "Marine Harvest makes takeover offer for Cermaq"
A press release issued this morning by Marine Harvest (not posted on their web-site yet - but should be online here) included:
Watch out for more news from Marine Harvest online here
The Norwegian media featured the big news majoring on 'Big Wolf' John Fredriksen and his ownership of Marine Harvest:
Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reported:
Read more about Marine Harvest via "Marine Harvest's Salmonopoly Loss - Q3 $$$$$s drop 86%!" and "Marine Harmfest"
Read more about Cermaq via "Cermaq's Crisis in Canada!" and "Cermaq's Clusterfuck"
Comments