Marine Harvest has reached a milestone in its acquisition of Morpol as the EU Commission approves its transaction.
Marine Harvest says the transaction complements existing production in Scotland with an increased production capacity of 6,000 tonnes and Norway with an increased capacity of 7,000 tonnes.
Ole-Eirik Lerøy, chairman, Marine Harvest, said: “The purchase of Morpol is in line with Marine Harvest's strategy of forming an innovative and integrated protein group. Our established position within salmon farming will be further complemented and our presence within value-added processing activities will take a giant leap.”
In addition, the transaction opens up new geographical areas for Marine Harvest.
Morpol is established in Troms County in Norway, which the company says will be an important area for Marine Harvest to pursue for future growth in farming capacity.
Marine Harvest has agreed to divest farming capacity in Shetland with 11,000 tonnes and Orkney Islands with 7,000 tonnes. Freshwater capacity and primary processing plants will also be divested in the same areas.
The production estimates for Marine Harvest Group for 2014 exceeds 40,000 tonnes.
With the approval of the transaction, Marine Harvest can exercise typical shareholder rights relating to its 87.1% ownership in Morpol, which will remain on the Oslo Stock Exchange for the time being.
