Land-based salmon farming group AquaCon has filled a key position in the development of its $1 billion (€885 million) US project, hiring long-time finance executive Gunnar Aasbo-Skinderhaug to the position of chief financial officer (CFO) of the firm.
Aasbo-Skinderhaug, who currently serves as CFO of Cermaq Norway but held prior roles with Aker Seafoods, retailer Coop and Norsk Titanium, will join AquaCon by the beginning of next year, AquaCon CEO Henrik Tangen told IntraFish.
Tangen said Aasbo-Skinderhaug will fill a critical role for the group as it moves into increasingly complex financial territory.
"You have to be prepared, and pat of that is having a strong team in place," Tangen told IntraFish of the company's development. "Gunnar has a strong track record, and is bringing us not only his financial skills but also detailed salmon farming competence."
AquaCon plans to raise the estimated $300 million (€265.6 million) capital needed to complete the first phase of its facility in two subsequent private placements in the second half of 2020 and 2021 and to list on the Oslo’s Merkur Market following the first placement. The company plans an eventual move to the Oslo Stock Exchange at a later stage.
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AquaCon is planning a massive operation for the Eastern Shore of the US state of Maryland, near one of the most densely populated regions in the country.
The company plans 45,000 metric tons of head-on gutted (HOG) production across three phases, with 15,000 metric tons HOG at each facility located on three nearby sites on the eastern shore to be built over a five-year period, with a planned construction start date in the first quarter of next year.
With the third phase completed, the company's production would be equivalent to upwards of 6 percent of the total US salmon market, with sales close to $150 million (€132.5 million) within four years and close to $500 million (€441.7 million) by 2030.
The CFO position is the latest key role the group has filled. AquaCon hired David Enggaard Pedersen as its recirculating aquaculture system engineering manager last month.
Aasbo-Skinderhaug's departure is the second top financial executive to leave Cermaq in less than a year, after Cermaq CFO Thomas Palm announced his departure in early 2020.
Read also:
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- Cargill knows land-based salmon farming will boom. But where?
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