Samherji hf and Fjord Seafood ASA have signed a collaboration agreement. Samherji will aquire 11.2 million shares (approximately 2.6 %) in Fjord Seafood and the companies will cooperate on fish farming and distribution of salmon and whitefish products.

The agreement is a result of both partie’s expectations for the development and the possibilities for growth in the global fish and aquaculture industry. The following are the main elements in the agreement:
 

• Samherji will achieve 11.2 million shares shares in Fjord Seafood through a private placement of NOK 28 million. The subscription was done 17 January 2003 and was passed pursuant to the authorisation granted in the annual general meeting on 10 June 2002.  The subscription price was NOK 2.50.
• Cooperation and mutual exchange of knowledge and competence with regards to development of aquaculture projects.
• Cooperation on marketing and sales of fresh salmon and whitefish products.
• Cooperation on build-up of competence and mutual exchange of information with regards to fish feed production.

The collaboration agreement is a result of negotiations initiated and conducted by the largest Icelandic bank,  Islandsbanki.

Samherji has been given access to knowledge and competence in one of the world’s leading global aquaculture companies that will be used when increasing their effort to build and expand the aquaculture and fresh fish industry in Iceland.  Through the agreement Fjord is secured sourcing of fresh raw material and various fish products from the largest fisheries company in Iceland. The agreement also gives Fjord Seafood an option to buy up to 50 percent of Samherji’s farming activity in Iceland.

The agreement with Samherji is both stategically and industrially interesting. It creates a formalized base for cooperation between two of Europe’s lagrest fisheries and aquaculture-companies; which have both supplementary and overlapping activity. The agreement supports our long term strategy to become the global market’s preferred supplyer of seafood. We will have access to raw material that can be processed and sold through our sales and distribution network. Pieters’ comprehensive expertise in product development and Fjord Seafood’s knowledge on fish farming will benefit the Icelandic activity, President and CEO of Fjord Seafood, Paul Birger Torgnes comments on the agreement.

-         Further consolidation in the industry will reduce the cyclicality and will contribute to a further stabilization.
-         We regard the agreement to be an important step in the further development of Samherji, especially with regards to our increased aiming for aquaculture. The agreement is a confirmation of the fact that our development of the farming activities has been strategically right and has been managed in a professional way. We look forward to cooperating with Fjord Seafood which is a company with a thouroughly developed distribution of fish and fish products, and also look forward to further develop both our aquaculture business and the production and distribution of fresh salmon and whitefish products. The agreements arranges for this work and opens for interesting possibilitites within other fields of our business, as the production of fish feed and fish oil. In cooperation with other producers, our production of fish feed and fish oil will give us oppertunities to further develeop the concepts of traceability and food safety for fish products, says managing director in Samherji, Thorstein Mar Baldvinsson.

Samherji is an Icelandic integrated fish industry company, one of the biggest in the country. The company’s head office is situated at Akureyri and has operations in most aspects of the fish industry; fishing, farming and processing  and is involved in production of fish meal and fish oil at several sites in Iceland. The group’s activities involves all levels in the value chain from production of eggs and fry, farming and processing and exports and sales. Samherji operates a fleet of 12 fishing vessels; including freezer and fresh fish trawlers, multi purpose fishing vessels, and a purse seiner. Samherji operates four fish processing plants, a prawn processing plant and three fish processing plants and has ownership interests in several other companies, including fish farming operations. The Samherji Group also consists of companies in Germany, Great Britain and the Faeroe Islands. The turnover (2001) was ISK 13 billions (approximately USD 165 million) and the market value of the company currently is approximately 16,5 billion ISK (approximately USD 200 million).

Fjord Seafood ASA is a main player in the global aquaculture industry and close to ten percent of the worldwide output of Atlantic salmon goes through Fjord Seafood. The company is fully integrated throughout the value chain from roe to consumer.  This includes production of broodstock, fry and farmed fish, processing and sales and distribution. Farming is done in all the four major production regions; Norway, Chile, North-America and Scotland. Farming and sea ranching of various whitefish species is done in the subsidiary Fjord Marin. The wholly owned subsidiary Pieters is Europe’s leading producer of elaborated seafood, with a well-established sales and distribution network. Fjord Seafood ASA is listed in Oslo and has 3100 employees. The company had revenues of NOK 3.2 billion i 2001 (approximately USD 450 million) and will after the transaction have a market capital of NOK 1,096.5 million (approximately USD 200 million).

The shares will be issued as soon as practically possible and will give the right to dividens from the accounting year 2002.  After the private placement the total number of shares in Fjord Seafood will be 438,604,00.

More company information at the enclosed fact sheets and:
http://www.fjord.com
http://www.samherji.is
http://www.pieters.com

For further information please contact:
President and CEO Fjord Seafood: Paul Birger Torgnes, tlf: +47 2282 6450
Managing director Samherji: Thorstein Mar Baldvinsson: + 354 460 9000
Corporate communications director Fjord Seafood: Charlotte Hartvigsen Lem: + 47 2282 6450