Salmon farmer fined £16 million

Salmon farmer fined £16 million after takeover 28/7/14

One of the largest private employers in the Western Isles has been hit with a £16 million after allegedly breaching European merger rules.

The EU accused Norwegian-owned Marine Harvest of jumping the gun and completing a buyout of rival Morpol without prior clearance.

Marine Harvest - which has about 25 sea farms in the Outer Hebrides, its main Scottish production base, acquired a 48.5% stake in Morpol in December 2012 thus gaining effective sole control over its competitor.

The EU maintains parent company Marine Harvest ASA implemented the acquisition eight months before the formal notification to the commission took place.

The salmon farmer says it intends to challenge the EU’s in court over the issue.

A statement from the fish farmer said: “Marine Harvest remains of the opinion that it acted in accordance with the requirements of the exception applying to public takeovers in its acquisition of Morpol and thus disagrees with the commission on the applicability of a fine.

“The take-over of Morpol was structured as an acquisition of the initial shareholding followed by an immediate mandatory offer.

“Marine Harvest made it clear to both the market and Morpol that no control would be taken before the acquisition had been cleared by the EU.

“The company notified the commission immediately following the acquisition and loyally adhered to the principle of not exercising its shareholders rights in Morpol until the Commission had cleared the transaction. The company has also, throughout the period of the Commission's review, cooperated fully with the Commission.”

Marine Harvest is also unhappy that the “the size of the fine appears to deviate significantly from similar cases where fines have been applied by the commission.”