Norway. Pelagia Holding AS
| Date of agreement: | 19 Dec 2019 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Norway |
| Customer: | Pelagia Holding AS |
| Amount in NOK: | NOK 150 million |
| Amount in EUR: | EUR 14.94 million |
| Maturity: | 7 years |
| NACE sector / loan type: | Other business activities |
Project
The loan has been provided to re-finance Pelagia’s acquisition of Norwegian company Epax Norway AS. Epax is a producer of concentrated marine based omega-3 fatty acids used for dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals. Since the acquisition was completed, Epax Norway AS has become a third division of Pelagia. Epax operates one factory in Ålesund, Norway.
Epax complements Pelagia’s product offerings of products based on pelagic fish sourced mainly from the North Atlantic Ocean such as North Sea herring and mackerel. Pelagia is Norway’s leading producer and exporter of fish based food products for human consumption and fish based animal feed ingredients such as fish meal and fish oil. Pelagia is wholly owned by Austevoll Seafood ASA and Kvefi AS, and has is headquarter in Bergen, Norway. The company operates 25 factories in Norway, the UK, Ireland and Denmark.
Fulfilment of NIB's mandate
The acquisition of Epax Norway AS expands Pelagia’s product portfolio and enables more efficient utilisation of the company’s process side streams, as well as providing access to production resources, networks and markets for refined marine oils for human consumption. The development of new processes is further expected to lead to potential new R&D lines and support the fishing and fish-processing cluster in Western Norway.
Sustainability summary
Epax Norway AS is required to conduct a Best Available Technology (BAT) study for the Epax factory in Ålesund and an environmental action plan (EAP) based on the BAT study. Further, the company is required to comply with the EAP by year end 2021, so that the operations of Epax in Ålesund are in compliance with BAT.
