AquaBounty casts the net wider to find buyer for its last asset
Former land-based salmon farmer AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. today announced that it is expanding its ongoing strategic review process for its Pioneer, Ohio property to include opportunities related to power infrastructure and energy development.
The Pioneer site is the one remaining significant asset of AquaBounty, which sold its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facilities in Indiana, and in Prince Edward Island, Canada, when it ran out of money.
AquaBounty, which farmed Atlantic salmon that inherited a genetic modification that made them grow more quickly, had begun work on a 10,000-tonne salmon farm at Pioneer but stopped work after costs spiralled.
Data centres
In a press release today, the company said it had previously been engaged in efforts to monetise the Pioneer property through discussions with parties in the aquaculture industry. While those discussions remain ongoing, evolving market conditions have led the company to broaden its evaluation of strategic alternatives to maximise shareholder value.
AquaBounty said the Pioneer campus possesses a unique combination of infrastructure assets that management believes may be attractive to participants in the rapidly expanding power generation and digital infrastructure sectors.
The property includes access to an existing electrical substation with approximately 50 megawatts of available capacity, competitively priced electricity, and a permit to withdraw 5.25 million gallons per day of groundwater from a high-capacity underground aquifer. These characteristics position the site as a potentially valuable location for power generation, energy-intensive industrial applications, data centre infrastructure, and other strategic development opportunities, said AquaBounty.
Utility infrastructure
“The demand for reliable power infrastructure has accelerated dramatically in recent years, driven in large part by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing,” stated interim chief executive David Frank.
“As we evaluate the highest and best use of the Pioneer assets, we believe it is prudent to expand our strategic review beyond traditional aquaculture opportunities to include parties seeking sites with robust utility infrastructure and abundant water resources.”
AquaBounty intends to engage with developers, utilities, independent power producers, infrastructure investors, and other strategic partners regarding a range of potential transactions. These may include an outright sale of the property, joint development arrangements, long-term leasing opportunities, or other structures that could realise the value of the site's infrastructure assets.
No promises
The company will also evaluate opportunities to participate more directly in infrastructure or energy development where doing so could enhance long-term shareholder value.
AquaBounty stressed that there can be no assurance that the strategic review process will result in any transaction or that any transaction, if pursued, will be completed on specific terms or within any particular timeframe. It added that does not intend to provide updates regarding the process unless and until its Board of Directors determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required.
In its report for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, also published today, AquaBounty said its current assets at the end of the quarter totalled $11,708,929, while total liabilities added up to $8,897,386.
AquaBounty has an accumulated deficit - the difference between its total lifetime losses and profits - of more than US $391 million.