European Commission to investigate Mowi takeover move

Mowi announced in January that it had agreed to take virtual full control (95%) of the independent aquaculture business in which it already held a 45% stake for a number of years.

Nova Sea is a leading salmon farmer in production area 8 in Northern Norway and covers the entire value chain from broodstock and smolt production to harvesting and sales. The company expects to harvest 52,000 tonnes of salmon this year.

Mowi has agreed to pay around £525m to seal ownership.

The deal is also being looked at by the Norwegian competition authority, which has yet to deliver its verdict.

Now, the European Commission is to open a review of the proposal under its own merger rules.

Norway is not a member of the EU, but it does sell a huge amount of salmon and other seafood into the bloc. Although Nova Sea is still a mainly family owned business, it is a sizeable salmon farmer while Mowi as the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon is clearly a powerful force in the industry.

The Commission will consider whether the acquisition could potentially fall within the scope of the EU Merger Regulation and has invited third parties to submit comments by this week.

The deal was notified to the Commission earlier this month, and a preliminary examination suggests it could fall under EU merger rules.

The Commission said it finds that the transaction “could fall within the scope of its merger regulation” but added “the final decision is reserved”.