Nordic Aqua Partners (NOAP) has sold a minority stake in its China subsidiary to local investors as the business seeks to scale output of farmed Atlantic salmon.
Oslo-listed NOAP said it has received 300m yuan ($42.1m) in return for a 20% interest in Nordic Aqua (Ningbo) Co. to help fund the completion of the second stage of its land-based salmon-farming operation in the city of Ningbo.
The finance, from two unnamed Chinese investors, will also support phase three of the project, the plans for which will be finalised next year.
Phase one has already been completed with the first salmon harvest “successfully executed” in April last year. The plan is to increase annual output from a predicted 8,000 tonnes to 20,000 tonnes at Nordic Aqua (Ningbo), which was set up by the parent company in 2018.
NOAP said in a statement today (25 September) that pre-engineering assessments for phase three will be completed next year with the aim to start construction late in 2026 or early in 2027.
In an accompanying first-half results announcement today, NOAP said the first harvest from the stage three farming project is expected in 2029.
The company added the investment will bolster Nordic Aqua Ningbo’s “position as the leading onshore RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture System) and land-based Atlantic salmon platform in China - uniquely positioned to meet the country’s demand for safe, sustainable, and locally produced protein”.
NOAP’s CEO Ragnar Joensen said: “This marks a major strategic milestone for Nordic Aqua.
“Our long-standing collaboration with the Chinese institutions goes back to the very beginning of Nordic Aqua Ningbo. The introduction of two respected entities as strategic minority partners represents a natural evolution of that cooperation.”
In the longer term, NOAP said it will evaluate the option of a public listing in China or Hong Kong via an IPO for Nordic Aqua Ningbo. That would, the company said, provide a “de-risked path to cash flow scale, operational leverage, and long-term value creation in the world’s largest and fastest-growing seafood market”.
Reflecting the initial stages of the Nordic Aqua Ningbo project, the parent group posted a first-half net loss of €14.35m (-$16.84m), widening from a €1.71m loss a year earlier.
Revenue was up 58% at €7.39m. The salmon harvest, still from phase one, was 955 tonnes, up from 523 tonnes a year earlier.
Operating EBITDA remained in the red to the tune of €1.27m, compared to a corresponding loss of €1.98m. EBIT was reported as a €6.6m loss versus an almost €2m loss.
