Bankrupt char farmer Matorka rescued by fishing giant Brim
Bankrupt land-based Arctic char producer Matorka is to be bought by Icelandic fishing, processing and sales company Brim hf., the lawyer appointed as administrator for Matorka told LandbasedAQ.com today.
Friðbjörn Garðarsson, an attorney and partner at AX law, Iceland, said: “The estate has entered into an agreement for the sale of Matorka assets and operations to a subsidiary of Brim hf., which is currently being established.
“The sale is subject to certain conditions, and work to satisfy them will proceed diligently over the coming days and weeks.”
650 staff
Brim hf. employs approximately 650 full-time employees at sea and ashore. Its high-value products from fresh fish harvested in Icelandic waters are sold all over the world, with the largest markets being Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa.
Matorka operates a hybrid recirculation / flow-through facility in the Grindavik area on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, where a key advantage in the past has been that the water it extracts from boreholes in the volcanic rock is warmed by lava to almost 10°C, perfect for Arctic char.
That natural advantage changed in 2023 when earthquakes occurred that were linked to volcanic eruptions that forced the evacuation of the nearby town of Grindavik.
Water quality problems
Three or four of the company’s 12 large grow-out tanks were damaged, and it has now emerged that the earthquakes also caused changes in water quality that resulted in repeated infections in the company’s fish, managing director Christo du Plessis told IntraFish website in a statement yesterday.
Earlier this year, the company’s management and veterinarians concluded that harvesting the fish, then emptying and disinfecting all tanks was the best solution. But although this measure was successful, it had a very serious impact on the company’s cash flow, the statement said.