Marine Harvest ASA, the salmon farmer controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen, will lead the way in consolidating the seafood industry as record fish prices make deals more attractive, DNB ASA and Nordea Bank AB said.
“We saw the fight for Cermaq that was not successful from the Marine Harvest side, so some of those market players are looking to do more,” Ottar Ertzeid, head of DNB Markets, said in an interview in Oslo on 16 December. “Within the seafood area there’s probably more consolidation to bid on.”
Marine Harvest, the world’s biggest salmon farmer, has in the past year sought to take advantage of a recovery in fish prices and an easing of restrictions on the ownership of farming capacity in Norway, the world’s largest salmon producer. Marine Harvest bought salmon processor Morpol ASA before it failed in a bid to buy Cermaq ASA, whose EWOS feed operation was eventually bought by Bain Capital LLC and Altor Equity Partners. The company has more recently acquired more than a quarter of Grieg Seafood ASA and signaled it may buy more.
