Faroese Bank Foroya sells shares – Fishupdate.com

Faroese Bank Foroya sells shares Published:  09 October, 2008

THE Faroese Bank Foroya has sold most of its shares in the Faroe and Danish fish farming (aquaculture) group Vestlax, which it has owned for the past five years.

THE Faroese Bank Foroya has sold most of its shares in the Faroe and Danish fish farming (aquaculture) group Vestlax, which it has owned for the past five years.

The sale is reported to be worth around 113-million Danish Kroners – or just under £12 million. Foroya is thought to have made about £10-million profit on the sale.

The buyer is a newly established company, Vestlax Holdings, owned by most major companies in the Faroe Islands. To begin with, Föroya Banki will be the largest shareholder in the new company with a 35 per cent share, followed by Havsbrún with a 21 per cent share. However, Föroya Banki doest not intend to hold the share for the long term and expects to sell its share as soon as possible.

Although not huge by European fish farming standards, it is an important company with annual production is between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes of fish.

The Vestlax group was established in 1986 but encountered financial turmoil in 2002 caused by low salmon prices on the international market and problems from fish disease. The Føroya Banki came to the rescue and restructured the group into a solid operation, and Vestlax resumed aquaculture activities in 2005.

Vestlax is seen as a well managed group. Fish farming is a major contributor to the Danish and Faroese fishing economy. In the early 1990s there were 60 active fish farms in the Faroe Islands alone, but industrial structural changes has reduced this figure to around 25 in 10 major companies

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.