Atlantic Sapphire saved from bankruptcy
The Florida salmon farmer is once again being bailed out by its largest shareholders, who are negotiating to buy out the entire company.
Land-based salmon farmer Atlantic Sapphire has secured a short-term bridging loan of US $10 million from its largest shareholders. By raising the money by Tuesday, it will avoid a breach of loan covenants that could send the company into technical bankruptcy.
At the same time, the investor group announces a possible takeover bid for the entire company, at a price significantly below the latest stock price.
The loan has an interest rate of 12% and an establishment fee of 15%, and is due for repayment on May 15. According to the company, the bridge financing provides sufficient liquidity in the short term, while a more long-term solution is being worked on.
Negotiations are ongoing
The investor group, which controls about 63% of Atlantic Sapphire's shares and 93% of its convertible loans, has indicated a non-binding bid of NOK 0.80 (£0.062) per share, up from a previous NOK 0.50. That is about 34% lower than the closing price of NOK 1.218 on Friday.
Neither the refinancing nor a possible bid has been finally finalised, and negotiations are still ongoing without binding agreements.
The company was previously valued at between $25m and $75m by independent advisors in March, while its debt exceeds $114m.
According to calculations from Norwegian publication Finansavisen, a total of around NOK 8.2 billion (£635.5m) in equity has been raised since 2010, with more than half of it raised in the last four years.
Hotel tycoon Petter Stordalen, Norway's wealthy Johannson family, and salmon farmer Nordlaks with Inge Berg have all invested a lot of money, in addition to the American investors Condire Management and Nokomis Capital.
