Marine Harvest ASA (the "Company" or "Marine Harvest") hereby announces that the Company intends to carry out a private placement of new shares to raise approx. NOK 300 million.
The Company's board has resolved to propose this to the annual general meeting to be convened on 27 May this year. The private placement will be pre-sold to Norwegian and international institutional investors after close of markets today. The price in the private placement will be determined through a bookbuilding process.
The Company's largest shareholder, Geveran Trading Co. Ltd., will lend the number of shares sold in the pre-sale to the financial advisors engaged to complete the pre-sale in order for them to be able to deliver immediately tradable shares to the buyers thereof. The share loan will be settled with the shares to be issued in the private placement.
Geveran has underwritten the pre-sale.
The private placement will secure a flexible financial base enabling the Company to pursue its plan for the restructuring of its operations in Chile, facilitate the resulting necessary amendments to the terms of the Company's loan agreements and improve the overall financial position of the Company.
Carnegie acts as joint lead manager and bookrunner in the private placement with RBS as joint lead manager and ABG Sundal Collier, DNB NOR Markets and Nordea as co-lead managers.
Oslo, 7 May 2009
For further enquiries, please contact:
Jørgen K. Andersen (CFO) +47 951 43 854
Henrik Heiberg (VP Finance & Treasury) +47 917 47 724
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act)