Norwegian salmon farmer Cermaq to sell EWOS fish feed unit for $1.08 bn
19 Jul 2013
Norwegian salmon farmer Cermaq yesterday said it would sell its EWOS fish feed unit after private equity firms Bain Capital and Altor raised their bid to 6.5 billion kroner ($1.08 billion).
The latest offer is 300 million kroner more than the 6.2 billion kroner ($1.1 billion) tabled by the PE firms last month (See: PE firms Bain Capital, Altor table a $1.1-bn bid for Cermaq's fish feed unit EWOS)
Oslo-based Cermaq said that it will use the money to reduce debt, fund its salmon-farming operations and pay an extraordinary dividend of between 48 kroner and 54 kroner a share.
Cermaq, which is 43.5-per cent owned by the Norwegian government, had entered into talks with Bain Capital and Altor after having rejected a takeover bid from Marine Harvest ASA as too low.
Marine Harvest, controlled by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen, had on 30 April launched an unsolicited 105 kroner per share bid for Cermaq, comprising of 53 kroner in cash and 52 kroner in shares.
The hostile deal was subject to a number of conditions including receiving two-thirds of the shares and Cermaq not going through with its proposed $732 million acquisition of Peruvian fishmeal company Copeinca ASA (See: Marine Harvest takes $1.7-bn hostile bid to Cermaq shareholders)
Cermaq rejected the offer saying that it undervalued the company and came with unacceptable conditions.
EWOS is the largest global salmon feed supplier by volume. It supplies extruded feeds for the full life cycle from hatch to harvest of salmonids and pangasius, and has operations in all four salmon-producing countries, Norway, Chile, Canada and the UK.
It has also entered the Pangasius (white fish) feed market in Vietnam. EWOS Vietnam is a joint venture with local partner Anova. The company produces feed for the pangasius feed market in Souht East Asia. EWOS Vietnam has its plant in Ben Luc, Long An Province outside Ho Chi Mihn City.
EWOS employs more than 1,000 people and has an annual turnover of 10.3 billion kroner