The UK competition authority, the Competition Commission, has authorised Pan Fish` acquisition of Marine Harvest.
Pan Fish is pleased with this final decision, which is in line with the provisional findings that were communicated in a company disclosure to the Oslo Stock Exchange 8 November 2006.
With the approval from the UK Competition Commission, Pan Fish ASA has received authorisation from all relevant Competition Authorities. Based on this final approval, the closing of the transaction will be executed as soon as possible and the three companies Fjord Seafood, Pan Fish and Marine Harvest will be merged into one.
The new merged company will be the world’s largest aquaculture company with a production of around 420,000-430,000 tonnes of salmon and trout products in 2007 in about 20 countries. The company also produces halibut, cod and yellowtail. In addition to filet production and further processing in Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Chile and Canada, the company has extended VAP (value added products) activities in USA, France, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. The new company will have about 9,000 employees worldwide.
