The relevant competition authorities have approved a March agreement through which pelagic fish company Pelagia AS acquired a further 50 percent shareholding in fellow Norwegian company Hordafor AS.
Bekkjarvik-based Hordafor utilizes byproducts from the salmon farming industry to produce oil and protein. Pelagia acquired the shares, at a cost of NOK 477 million (USD 55 million, EUR 46.5 million), from Partrederiet Karoløs ANS and a smaller shareholder.
Effective from 1 July, 2021, Pelagia owns 100 percent of the shares in Hordafor.
“We are very pleased with the approval,” Pelagia CEO Egil Magne Haugstad said. “There are several reasons why Pelagia and Hordafor are a good match. We can achieve much more together than individually, and together we can provide our customers and partners with even better products and services.”
Hordafor and Pelagia complement each other in many areas, such as logistics, service solutions, and product mix, he said.
Pelagia’s full ownership of Hordafor, does not, however, mean operational changes for Hordafor or for Hordafor’s customers and partners. Rather, "it will be business as usual,” Haugstad said, adding that that no downsizing was planned in connection with the purchase.
"We are impressed with the staff at Hordafor, and welcome everyone into the group,” he said.
As well as producing pelagic fish products for human consumption, Bergen-based Pelagia supplies fish and animal feeds, protein concentrates, fishmeal, and fish oil.
The company achieved revenues of NOK 2.3 billion (USD 265 million, EUR 224.1 million) in the first quarter of 2021, up from NOK 2.1 billion (USD 242.1 million, EUR 204.7 million) in Q1 2020. Its earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) in the quarter amounted to NOK 72 million (USD 6 million, EUR 7 million), which was four times as much as the previous year.
Established in 1983, Hordafor collects aquaculture byproducts from along the entire coast of Norway and transports them to its processing plant in Austevoll on the west coast of Norway.
Photo courtesy of Pelagia AS
