SalMar calls for more time on NRS merger

SalMar says it wants more time before going ahead with its acquisition of Norway Royal Salmon.

The move is not thought to be directly connected with the Norwegian government’s controversial new salmon tax plan, although there was Norwegian press speculation along these lines yesterday.

SalMar made the surprise announcement in a statement to the Oslo Stock Exchange this morning, saying it needs more time.

The merger plan was approved by SalMar and NTS, which owns two thirds of the shares in NRS, at the end of June. SalMar has also received acceptance for 52% of the shares in NTS.

The SalMar statement says: “The process of obtaining the necessary approvals for the merger from the relevant authorities has taken longer than expected when the merger plan was entered into. The boards of SalMar and NRS therefore consider it necessary to call extraordinary general meetings in order to extend the deadline for fulfilling the conditions in point 8 of the merger plan.

“The board of SalMar has thus decided to convene an extraordinary general meeting of SalMar which will take place on 27 October at 12:00 noon (Norwegian time). The general meeting will be held as a digital meeting.”

The statement added: “Kverva Industrier AS and LIN AS, which together own approximately 52% of the shares and voting rights in SalMar, have made declarations that they will vote for the proposed resolutions at the extraordinary general meeting.”

If the merger with NTS and NRS goes ahead, it will make SalMar the world’s second largest salmon business after Mowi.