Salmon Evolution has announced it has entered into an investment agreement with South Korea's Dongwon Industries, whereby Dongwon will make a NOK 50 million investment to acquire a minority share in Salmon Evolution.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two partners further plan to enter into apartnership on jointly constructing a land-based fish farm in South Korea utilizingSalmon Evolutions technology.

They will also jointly consider future opportunities for scaling similar projects in other Asian markets as well as the North American market, the salmon farmer said.

"This is a very exciting opportunity for us," said Salmon Evolution CEO Hakon Andre Berg. "Collaboration with a global player like Dongwon Industries will strengthen our commercial opportunities as well as giving us solid industrial support for scalingour concept in new markets."

The pair's dialogue has been ongoing for some time, but COVID-19's spread delayed the process of Dongwon's investment, he added.

"After assessing a number of projects for land-based fish farming enterprises, weconcluded that Salmon Evolution represents the best investment and partnershipopportunity in the sector," said Kiyun Yun, Dongwons CFO.

"We believe that Salmon Evolutions technology does the best job of recreating natural marine conditions while avoiding the many challenges faced by conventional fish farming in the sea."

In May Salmon Evolution began the construction of a land-based fish farm in western Norway at Indre Haroy, Hustadvika municipality.

This facility will be based on 65% reuse and 35% supply of filtered and temperature-controlled seawater, which it believes will contribute to optimal operations and substantially reduce risk compared with other types of land-based aquaculture usingvirtually full water recirculation.

On completion, the fish farm at Indre Haroy should have an annual production capacityof about 36,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon.

"An investment by a large global seafood player sends a strong signal to the industryat this early phase," added Tore Tonseth, chair of Salmon Evolution. "Our existing owners have broad experience from the whole value chain for conventional aquaculture and a high level of expertise with the various technology concepts for land-based fish farming."

The fact that Dongwon is not only investing in Salmon Evolution, but also plans to enter into a partnership with the company, was a strong verification of its potential, he said.

In addition to the value potential offered by building similar land-based farms in other parts of the world, Tonseth highlighted the substantial sales and distribution opportunities that could come out of this partnership.

"This takes us a long step forward in the work needed to ensure scaling and access in a world market where quality and sustainability are becoming ever more important. Dongwon Industries will also be a strategic partner in our future distribution network."

Pareto Securities and DNB Markets have acted as financial advisors to Salmon Evolution in the transaction.

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Dongwon, Salmon Evolution to launch land-based farm in Korea - Undercurrent News