Cermaq on Wednesday called Marine Harvest’s unsolicited takeover offer “inadequate.”
Marine Harvest has already purchased more than 4 million shares in Cermaq, about 4.7 percent of Cermaq’s share capital. Marine Harvest indicated it will make an offer of NOK 105 (USD 18.18, EUR 13.82) per share of Cermaq, which is 22 percent above the Cermaq 30 April closing price. However, the Norwegian salmon farming and fish feed firm called Marine Harvest’s condition that it give up its bid to purchase Peruvian fishmeal producer Copeinca a non-negotiable.
Cermaq’s board of directors said that Marine Harvest sees the announcement of the Copeinca transaction as a reason for the recent relative underperformance of the Cermaq share.
“Assuming that this is correct, Cermaq excluding Copeinca, which is the entity that Marine Harvest potentially is bidding for, would currently have been trading above the NOK 91 level which is where it was trading at 4 April, the day immediately preceding the announcement of the Copeinca transaction. This would imply a substantial reduction in the true premium paid by Marine Harvest to achieve full control of Cermaq,” said the board.
