Barramundi Asia teaming with agricultural giant Louis Dreyfus on feed innovations
The joint venture will research commercial feed production in the Netherlands.
Global agricultural trader and processor Louis Dreyfus has partnered with Barramundi Asia and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory on an aquaculture feed research program in the Netherlands to develop commercial-scale feed production for barramundi farming.
Louis Dreyfus became a default shareholder in Barramundi Asia when it merged with Allegro Aqua, in which Louis Dreyfus owns a 30 percent stake.
"Leveraging LDC’s commercial and logistics expertise, and presence across the global food, feed and ingredients value chain, we look forward to contributing to the realization of innovative and sustainable solutions to help meet rapidly growing consumer demand for fish protein as a healthy meat alternative,” said Thomas Couteaudier, head of Louis Dreyfus’s South & Southeast Asia Region.
The companies will harness their collective knowledge in fish biology, behavior and nutrition, to develop a next generation of fish feed that will address better feed conversion ratios and environmental sustainability, "giving consumers a readily available and nutritious source of fish proteins," said Temasek CEO Peter Chia.
"We believe that through this partnership, we will be able to significantly enhance the economic equation of fish farming through better genetics, improved feed, logistics and optimized farming protocol to help pave the way for barramundi to become the species of choice for the tropics.”
"To realize the vision, we're going to need capital, whether that's from an IPO, industry players or investors, it's too early to say. We do have ideas for an IPO, but I wouldn't say it's confirmed," CEO Andreas von Scholten said.
The company operates one of the largest barramundi farms in Singapore and Australia, but has aims to grow even further.
Barramundi Asia is not profitable yet since it recorded revenues of SGD 20 million (€13 million/$14 million) in 2019.
This is due to being in a capital intensive phase of its growth plan, von Scholten said.
However, in order to list on the stock exchange, the company must be profitable or show that is seeking an estimated market capitalization of SGD 300 million (€200 million/$220 million) or more.
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