Land-based salmon farmer Atlantic Sapphire secured a $210 million (€194 million) senior secured credit facility with the largest seafood lender, DNB, to refinance its existing debt and complete the construction of its facility in Miami.
Johan Andreassen will remain in a dual management and board role at Atlantic Sapphire despite a recommendation from the Norwegian Corporate Governance Committee (NUES) that the move is not advisable as the company prepares to list on Oslo Bors' main stock market.
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He will, however, shift to become CEO of the company's US operations -- by far the largest part of the group - rather than the holding company, since its move from the alternative Merkur Market to a main listing transforms Atlantic Sapphire into a public liability company, where chair and CEO are not allowed to be the same person.
Karl Oystein Oyehaug, who is CFO and investor liaison for the company, will step in as the new CEO of the holding company as well as existing in his current roles.
Atlantic Sapphire is nearing full grow-out of the first commercial batch of farmed Atlantic salmon in its Miami facility, with a projected first harvest in the third quarter of this year. Phase one of the group's project is expected to produce 10,000 metric tons.
In early March, Atlantic Sapphire lost around 227,000 fish in its land-based grow-out facility in Denmark, pushing back harvests by around four months.
