SalMar offloads NRS trading arm to Visscher, contemplates sale of Frøy shares

Following SalMar’s acquisition of NRS in November 2022 and then NTS in December 2022, it has sold off NRS’ trading arm – now redundant – to Urk, Netherlands-based Visscher Seafood.

SalMar announced the sale of the Kristiansand, Norway-based export sales office, which has 30 employees, in its Q4 2023 results presentation in February 2023, and the acquisition was confirmed by Visscher Seafood in March.

“Visscher Seafood has acquired the trading activities of Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) from SalMar. The assets will be transferred into a Norwegian subsidiary of Visscher through an asset purchase agreement. The export company will be rebranded to Norwegian Seafood AS,” it said.

Visscher Seafood, a processor and distributor of farmed salmon and North Atlantic whitefish, is aiming to double its salmon volumes to 50,000 metric tons, according to Visscher CEO Tim Brouwer.

“Our strategy is to invest in the three key elements of the salmon value-chain: aquaculture, processing, and international trade,” Brouwer said. “With this investment, we secure raw material. The company has a very strong supplier base with small- and medium-sized farmers that were otherwise inaccessible to us. Furthermore, NRS is big in markets where we are still relatively small, such as China, Japan and South Korea.”

Visscher is in the process of expanding its headquarters in Urk, which will double its processing area to 2,500 square meters.

“This means more space and overview for existing processes, as well as room for new processes such as a spiral freezer,” the company said on its website. “Bringing every step of the production process in-house increases our flexibility and capacity for wholesalers and retailers alike.”

Visscher Seafood co-owns Scottish salmon farmer Organic Sea Harvest and its U.S. operations with Villa Seafood and DOM International.

SalMar has also entered into a sales process for its 72 percent holding in aquaculture services firm Frøy ASA, having classified its stake as an asset for sale in a January 2023 update. Frøy conducts salmon-farm installation, maintenance, inspection, fish transport, treatment, sorting, and counting, has 80 vessels and has approximately 800 employees.

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Photo courtesy of Visscher Seafood