Eggert Þór Kristófersson, new CEO of Icelandic salmon producer Landeldi

The management team of Icelandic company Landeldi, owner and developer of the Deep Atlantic project, appointed Eggert Þór Kristófersson as its new CEO just a few days ago. Kristófersson arrives at the right time to lend his support and expertise to the company, which aims to steadily increase its salmon production and reach 33,500 tons per year by 2028.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the development of fish farming on land. Landeldi has a solid, experienced staff with great knowledge of aquaculture. I look forward to working with the talent on board, to achieve an even greater excellence in producing a high-quality product for export, and obtain a positive environmental impact in the process,” Kristófersson said upon assuming his new position.

Landeldi’s biomass production is estimated to be around 500 tons by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the deep Atlantic fattening station currently houses 450,000 individual salmon in the fattening tanks and rears approximately 1.6 million smolts at the Öxnalækur hatchery.

14 operational tanks

The company produces about 2,000 l/s of seawater from its own wells on the Landeldi plot and operates four marine tanks at its grow-out station. The plan is to have a total of 14 tanks operational by the end of next year and a steady accumulation throughout the decade.

“Landeldi’s first-generation smolts moved into the first growth tank operation in early April.”

Landeldi is based in the municipality of Ölfus, which is particularly favorable for land-based salmon farming and has supported the company from the start. The company also operates a hatchery in the nearby town of Hveragerði, but the main farm is in Þorlákshöfn (Ölfus) and the total operational area is 33 hectares.

It is interesting to note that Landeldi, a company that employs 25 people and more about 50 subcontractors, has acquired all the licenses required in the area for this type of operation.

Position assumed

Kristófersson has already assumed his position at Landeldi, the company founded in 2017 by a select group of entrepreneurs with extensive experience in fish farming, construction, geothermal utilization, business and finance.

Thus, he now holds the position of CEO previously held by Halldór Ólafur Halldórsson, chairman of Landeldi’s board of directors.

“Eggert Þór is a powerful and experienced leader with ambitious environmental goals. He has had a successful career as a manager of a growing publicly traded company for the past decade, his appointment underlines that Landeldi has ambitious growth plans ahead. Landeldi has now secured all the fundamentals to build a large-scale salmon farm,” Halldórsson emphasized as he stepped down.

Solid experience

The new CEO holds a Candidatus oeconomices, an academic degree in economics from Danish, Icelandic and Norwegian universities. In addition, he holds a degree in business administration and auditing from the University of Iceland, and is a licensed stockbroker.

Born in 1970, Kristófersson worked from 1995 to 2008 at Íslandsbanki and Glitnir Bank. He later served as managing director of Glitnir Bank’s asset management in Iceland and Finland. Kristófersson served as CFO of N1, now listed retailer Festi in 2011, where he later –in February 2015– reached the position of CEO.

“Kristófersson has gone on to become chairman of the board of N1, Krónan, ELKO, Festi Real Estate, Bakkinn Supply Hotel, Malik Supply A/S and Nordic Marine Oil in Denmark.”

Memorandum of understanding

Landeldi’s managers are proud of their use of waste, which they process as fertilizer to enrich the soil. The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Icelandic Farmers’ Association and made an agreement to purchase technical equipment from Blue Ocean Technology. Stoðir, Framherji and Fylla are Landeldi’s main shareholders along with their own entrepreneurs.