Salmon boss Anderson to make £1m-plus from share sale to Bakkafrost

The offer means Craig Anderson, chief executive of SSC’s fish farming subsidiary, The Scottish Salmon Company Limited, will make more than £1 million from selling his stake.

Faroese salmon farmer Bakkafrost bought 68.6% of SSC from former majority shareholder Northern Link earlier this year and has since increased its holding to 80.77% by buying shares from other stakeholders.

It has since made a mandatory offer for all the outstanding shares of SSC at a price of NOK 28.25 per share in cash, which values SSC’s shares to approximately NOK 5,481 million (£462.5m). SSC’s board says the offer is a fair price.

All-time high

In a statement today it pointed out that the SSC share price had increased by more than 281% over the past three years, and that the price offered by Bakkafrost is at an all-time high for the SSC share pre the strategic review announcement in which the company indicated it was looking for a buyer.

It added that the offer represents a premium “on any pre-strategic review undisturbed closing price which is substantially above the average historical bid premiums observed on the Oslo Stock Exchange is successful public takeover situations”.

‘Less liquid’ share

Directors also warned that Bakkafrost won’t be required to make a repeat offer once the current offer is closed, “therefore, there is a risk that shareholders that do not accept the offer will be shareholders in a company with one majority shareholder and it is possible that the share will be less liquid following the completion of the offer”.

The board added that if Bakkafrost gets more than 90% of shares it will have the right to resolve a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares. Remaining shareholders will also have the right to require that it does.

£1m-plus for CEO

The Jersey-based Scottish Salmon Company PLC is the holding company of The Scottish Salmon Company Limited (SSC Ltd), headquartered in Edinburgh.

SSC board members Merete Myhrstad and Douglas Low, and SSC Ltd’s Anderson, have all informed the board that they intend to accept the Bakkafrost offer with respect to their own shares.

Anderson owns 456,086 shares, Myhrstad 65,000 shares and Low 40,000 shares. Anderson will therefore gain NOK 12,888,429 (approximately £1.087 million) from the sale.