Nekkar and Bewi Invest have sold FiiZK’s lice skirt division to Hampidjan as they continue to restructure the larger group of FiiZK companies.
In June 2024, FiiZK Digital was sold to Bluefront Equity for an undisclosed sum. FiiZK co-owners Nekkar, a Norwegian industrial technology firm, and the investment group Bewi Invest are seeking to rebuild the firm after five of its subsidiaries declared bankruptcy in September 2023. They previously announced a plan to streamline the company under the banner of FiiZK Topco to focus on closed and semi-closed aquaculture equipment and technology.
"The aquaculture industry is increasingly recognizing the biological and commercial benefits that closed and semi-closed cages bring. To date, FiiZK’s cage products have successfully completed more than 70 production cycles, demonstrating strong fish growth and no problems with lice and escapes. We aim to build on this success,” FiiZK Managing Director Jan Erik Kvingedal said in a press release.
The divested business, FiiZK Protection, is a producer of salmon lice skirts for the aquaculture sector, with an estimated 80 percent market share of salmon lice skirts in Norway and around NOK 100 million (USD 9.2 million, EUR 8.5 million) in sales in 2023, according to Nekkar. It primarily operates out of a facility in Valsneset, Ørland municipality, Norway, near Trondheim, where FiiZK is based. The deal is expected to close in September 2024; terms were not disclosed.
Reykjavik, Iceland-based Hampidjan Group is a supplier of equipment and supplies to the fishing and aquaculture sectors. It has been undergoing its own consolidation as it merged the operations of Mørenot Scotland into its Vónin UK subsidiary in January 2024, following its acquisition of the Mørenot Group in December 2022.
"We are very pleased to have FiiZK Protection join the Hampidjan Group and see the purchase as an important step in the continued development of our services to the aquaculture sector, as we already have very strong activities related to aquaculture in many parts of the world, especially in the North Atlantic Ocean,” Hampidjan CEO Hjörtur Erlendsson said. “Now, we can offer an even wider range of products and services to fish-farming companies, further strengthening Hampidjan's position in this important market.”
Erlendsson said he was happy to add FiiZK Protection’s earnings and 18 percent EBITDA ratio to Hampidjan’s annual financials, which included a sales total of EUR 322 million (USD 351 million) in 2023.
FiiZK Protection will be renamed following the completion of the transaction. Thirty of its employees, primarily at Valsneset but also a few in Trondheim, will be transferred to Hampidjan, while FiiZK’s Mjåtveit facility and its 20 employees will remain part of FiiZK.
The factory, which manufactures technical textiles including canvas for closed and semi-closed fish cages, will be transferred to FiiZK group company FiiZK Industries AS prior to execution of the share purchase, according to Nekkar CEO and FiiZK Chairman Ole Falk Hansen.
“Our facility at Mjåtveit plays a key role in manufacturing materials for our semi-closed and closed fish cages. Keeping this business, therefore, supports FiiZK’s strategic direction,” Hansen said.
Sea lice skirts prevent lice larvae from entering salmon net-pens. Typically, they are custom-designed and -fitted fabric wraps that reach 10 to 15 meters below the ocean surface, below where sea lice larvae can live. The skirts also prevent against micro-jellyfish, which can also be harmful to salmon.
“With this purchase, Hampidjan further strengthens its product offering to companies in aquaculture and can take advantage of FiiZK Protection's knowledge and experience to offer new and excellent solutions in the fight against lice in aquaculture,” Erlendsson said. “The purchase also enables Hampidjan to sell FiiZK Protection's lice skirt products in the countries where Hampidjan already has operations and Hampidjan sees great opportunities in increasing the sale of lice skirts into those markets.”
