December 20, 2010

Cermaq signs joint venture with Vietnam's Anova Corporation

Cermaq has signed on December 17 a joint venture agreement with the local partner Anova Corporation in Vietnam.

Through its feed operations, EWOS Cermaq is entering operations in the Vietnamese feed market.

Through acquisition of shares and a share issue, Cermaq has obtained 51% of the shares in the joint venture company. Cermaq will control the Board of Directors and the management team. Mr Rune Vamråk, supply chain director of the Norwegian company EWOS AS, is appointed as general manager for the company.

By this agreement, EWOS enters the feed market for farmed pangasius. The broad competence the company has within salmonids can be successfully transferred to pangasius, a white fish that has enjoyed a tremendous market growth in Europe and the US over the last decade. Pangasius eats feed which is made mainly from plants, and can supply significant volumes of sustainable marine protein to the global food market.

The venture partner Anova Corporation is established in Vietnam with a plant in the Long Anh province. The plant which will be transferred to the joint venture company as a part of the transaction has an annual capacity of 85,000 tonnes.

EWOS Vietnam has considerable ambitions for the Vietnamese market and the goal is to utilise the full capacity of the plant within the first operating year.

The company has engaged the highly esteemed pangasius expert Mr Serene, for the initial phase of market building.

The farming of pangasius in Vietnam is around 1.8 million tonnes. The major part of this volume is exported as fillets, reaching around 600,000-700,000 tonnes annually. Farming of pangasius is predicted the highest growth globally of farmed species the next decades.

Through its establishment in the Vietnamese market EWOS can contribute with its competence related to food safety and sustainability. Furthermore, EWOS will utilise its research based knowledge within fish nutrition, raw materials and food production to produce a more cost efficient feed than what is currently available in the Vietnamese market.

The agreement that gives Cermaq a limited access to an extensive market represents a first investment close to US$6 millions.