THERE are signs of potential further consolidation in the Scottish fish-farming sector after industry giant Marine Harvest snapped up one-quarter of the shares in fellow Norwegian-based firm Grieg Seafood in a £65 million swoop.
Both companies have extensive operations across Scotland.
Marine Harvest operates 25 sea farms in west Scotland.
Grieg Seafood claims to be the largest salmon producer in Shetland.
Marine Harvest, the world's biggest fish farmer whose interests stretch as far afield as Chile and Singapore, bought the stake in its rival at 22 crowns a share, a 23.6% premium to its closing price last night.
The transaction for 28.8 million shares is worth 634m crowns (£64m), valuing the company at 2.45 billion crowns. Grieg Seafood shares jumped 25.8% to 22.4 crowns a share on the news before settling to close at 22 crowns. Shares in Marine Harvest barely moved, closing down 0.07%.
Marine Harvest chief executive said: "We were offered a block of shares in GSF (Grieg Seafood), and decided to take advantage of the offering."
Asked if he would look at further similar deals, he said: "Potential future transactions will not be commented on as usual."
Ownership in Scotland's fish farming sector has consolidated over recent years.
A handful of Norwegian companies control much of the industry.
Operating from a head office in Edinburgh Marine Harvest already boasts extensive Scottish fish interests employing more than 500 people.
It has five hatcheries at Kilmarie on the Isle of Skye, Lochailort, Kinlochmoidart, Finfish near Ullapool and Inchmore at Glen Moriston. It operates from four freshwater loch sites in Loch Arkaig, Loch Garry and Loch Shiel.
It also has 25 sea farms off the West coast. A harvest station in Mallaig, Inverness-shire and a processing plant and farms management office in Fort William complete its Scottish presence.
Grieg Seafood's Hjaltlans division claims to be the largest salmon producer in Shetland, employing about 180 people. It has some 30 farms.
Its Lerwick Fish Traders subsidiary undertakes harvesting and is one of the largest salmon packing and processing companies in Shetland.
Supermarket giants Tesco, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison feature among its customers although 65% of its wares from Shetland go overseas.
The deal comes just days after Marine Harvest reported its salmon business in Scotland achieved record profitability in the latest quarter, helped by strong demand for the fish.
In August Grieg admitted it was seeing continued "very weak" results from its Shetland operation and announced the resignation of its regional director.
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