Pan Fish acquires Scottish fish farming company

29/08/05 Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pan Fish Scotland, Pan Fish ASA has agreed to acquire the Scottish fish farming company Murray Seafood. The transaction is worth (EV) a total of NOK 64 million, including debt. Murray Seafood has an annual production capacity roughly equivalent to three Norwegian production licences, and will boost Pan Fish's annual output by at least 2,500 tonnes round weight. Prior to this acquisition Pan Fish aimed to produce 27,800 tonnes/year in Scotland by 2007/2008.

At the end of the first half of 2005 Murray Seafood had harvested some 1,250 tonnes of fish, and reported an operating profit (EBIT) of NOK 4 million.

In addition to increased production, Pan Fish Scotland will gain full control over a fjord area in which the company already has a substantial presence. This provides the basis for reliable and safe expansion of biological production in the area, as well as affording considerable synergies with Pan Fish Scotland's existing production, logistics, harvesting and sales activities.

The company expects the global salmon farming industry to undergo a major consolidation process in the time ahead. Pan Fish has access to the capital and competence it needs to enable it to play an active role in this process. The acquisition of Murray Seafood is a natural continuation of the company's lowest-cost strategy, since it allows Pan Fish Scotland to take full biological control of one of the fjord systems where the company already has production facilities, and increase its production capacity without a corresponding increase in fixed costs.