Land-based yellowtail farmer, The Kingfish Company, is heading for an IPO listing on the Merkur Market in Oslo. This development comes on the back of the acceleration of its roll-out plan in both the U.S. and Europe, supported by recent critical permitting milestones and above design level results of its hatchery and grow-out operation.
“We are excited by our recent progress across production, sales and expansion activities and we view the Oslo Merkur Market an enabling platform as we look to scale up our business and transform our first-mover position into a long-term competitive advantage as a vertically integrated RAS aquaculture operator in the EU and the U.S.,” said The Kingfish Company CEO, Ohad Maiman.
The fundraising and listing process will be led by financial advisors DNB Bank (Global Coordinators), Arctic Securities (Joint Bookrunner) and Rabobank & Swedbank in cooperation with Kepler Cheuvreux (Joint Bookrunner), Legal advisors - Wikborg Rein (Norway) and DeRoos (Netherlands). The round is expected to be substantially supported by the company’s largest shareholders – Rabobank Corporate Investments (RCI) and the French Mulliez family office Creadev.
The Kingfish Company recently secured a major waterside permit allowing for its discharge and intake pipelines for its operations in the U.S. state of Maine, where it is looking to start construction of its U.S. production facility in H2 2021, with an initial planned production capacity of 6,000-8,000 tons per year of kingfish yellowtail. This follows a lengthy consultation process with the local community and relevant governmental organizations, Maiman said.
The company also plans to continue to seamlessly expand its European business in the Netherlands, where it intends to initiate its next phase expansion roll-out in early 2021 increasing installed capacity from 1,250 to 2,750 tons per year.
The company’s Dutch subsidiary, Kingfish Zeeland, showed significant progress through H1 2020. This included recording substantial production improvements and redirecting volumes in Europe to retail through COVID-19, such as listing in retail giant Whole Foods Market in the United Kingdom, enabling the company to retain full sales run rate during HORECA closures.
In parallel, the company managed to continue with its current expansion project in the Netherlands on time and on budget and accelerate the timeline of its imminent 2021 roll-out prospects for both its European and North American operations. These expansions would make The Kingfish Company the largest producer of yellowtail kingfish in both the EU and the U.S.
Maiman expects the shares to be admitted to trading on the Merkur Exchange in the short term, however, he declined to disclose the pricing and amount the company expects to raise.
