Nueva Pescanova launches first sustainability-linked promissory notes for up to USD 80 million

Pontevedra, Spain-based vertically integrated seafood firm Nueva Pescanova has launched its first sustainability-linked promissory notes in the alternative fixed income market of the Bolsas Mercados Españoles (BME), the operator of all stock markets and financial systems in Spain.

The issue will be for up to EUR 75 million (USD 80.5 million), which “demonstrates its commitment to ensure the social and environmental sustainability of all its activities, including financial,” the company announced in a statement.

The sustainability-linked financing – certified by the independent party European Quality Assurance - is aligned with the group’s "Pescanova Blue" sustainability program and a series of Sustainable Development Goals, with indicators that have direct impact on traceable raw materials and fair employment. 

The Nueva Pescanova Group launched its first issue of promissory notes in the fixed income market in 2021, under a program that could reach a maximum EUR 50 million (USD 53.7 million), thus diversifying its financing and investor sources. With the renewal of the Promissory Note Program, which is now linked to sustainability, the company will continue to issue short-term debt with maturities of up to 24 months.

The Nueva Pescanova Group saw sales of EUR 1.09 billion (USD 1.16 billion) for the period of April 2021 to March 2022, a 21.4 percent increase when compared to the same period one year previous. EBITDA came in at EUR 80 million (USD 85.7 million), doubling the EUR 39.5 million (USD 42.3 million) posted in the 2021 period.

Nueva Pescanova employs more than 10,000 workers in 19 countries on 4 continents. It sells its products in more than 80 countries around the world and specializes in the fishing, cultivation, processing and selling of fresh, chilled, and frozen seafood.

Last month, it submitted a plan to build the world’s first commercial octopus farm in Puerto Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria, in Spain’s Canary Islands. The company said it is ready to commercialize the technology for the incubation, hatching, and raising of O. vulgaris octopus, proposing a EUR 50 million (USD 52.7 million) farm with an annual production capacity of 3,000 metric tons of octopus.

However, the octopus farm – first proposed in November 2021 – is opposed by environmental and anti-aquaculture groups, who have warned of potentially harmful ecological risks if the project is approved.

Photo courtesy of Nueva Pescanova