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Aquaculture Magazine reports:
The sold company provides digital solutions enabling fish farmers to conduct strategic production planning by optimizing biological and financial conditions
The FiiZK group, whose largest shareholders are Nekkar and Bewi Invest, has entered into an agreement to sell FiiZK Digital to seafood investor Bluefront. The sale is part of a streamlining of FiiZK, which will now focus on unconventional farming methods including closed and semi-closed cages for fish farming. Bluefront’s second fund, Bluefront Capital II, is acquiring 100 percent of the shares in FiiZK Digital from FiiZK Topco, the holding company of the FiiZK Group.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction. “The sale of FiiZK Digital strengthens FiiZK’s balance sheet and frees up resources that can be used to develop the company’s core business,” said Ole Falk Hansen, chairman of FiiZK and CEO of Nekkar.
Upon completion of the transaction, FiiZK Digital will initiate a process to rename the company.
Seafood industry supplier
Through a joint investment in August last year, Bewi Invest (41%) and Nekkar (39%) became the largest shareholders in seafood industry supplier FiiZK. Since then, the owners have completed a successful restructuring of the FiiZK group and initiated a strategy process that has resulted in a plan for a more focused FiiZK.
“FiiZK wants to maintain our leading position in what we do, which means that we have to focus both our efforts and our resources, said for his part Jan Erik Kvingedal, managing director of FiiZK.
Fish cages with associated software, maintenance and services
In the future, FiiZK will focus on the sale of closed and semi-closed fish cages, with associated software, maintenance and services. To the date, FiiZK has delivered more than 20 cages and completed more than 70 production cycles, demonstrating strong fish growth and no problems with lice and escapes.
A key part of this effort is FiiZK’s new closed cage called Protectus, which is based on the best solutions from the company’s three previous models, Certus, Ecomerden and Starfish. In addition, the company has recently launched FiiZK FlekZii Cage, which is a semi-closed cage solution that reduces lice infestation.
Market-leading position in Norway
FiiZK maintains its portfolio of technical textiles, such as lice skirts and treatment tarps, segments in which the company has a market-leading position in Norway. Moreover, FiiZK has access to Nekkar’s expertise in engineering, electrification, automation and digitization to further develop cage system technologies for the aquaculture industry.
Bluefront acquires several specialized software companies
As part of the streamlining of FiiZK, the opportunity arose to sell FiiZK Digital to seafood investor Bluefront, which has acquired several specialized software companies in the seafood value chain in recent years.
FiiZK Digital provides digital solutions enabling fish farmers to conduct strategic production planning by optimizing biological and financial conditions. This solution has no direct link to FiiZK’s focus on closed or semi-closed cages.
“This transaction is therefore a good fit for FiiZK, Bluefront, and the FiiZK Digital team,” added Ole Falk Hansen, chairman of FiiZK and CEO of Nekkar.
Engaged in driving the food transition
Located in Norway, the seafood technology hub Bluefront assures that they are actively engaged in driving the food transition. According to them, they invest in product, service and technology companies relevant to scale the aquaculture industry globally.
“We specialize in supporting small and medium sized seafood firms holding market leading positions in rapidly growing niches. By making investments and forging partnerships with the companies’ management and founders, we seek to catalyze growth, innovation and impact,” they said.
Integral to their approach is a proprietary impact framework, embedding sustainability at the core of their investment process. They believe that financial performance and sustainable development are intrinsically linked elements of a future-proofed business strategy.
“Our investor base including institutional investors, family offices, high net worth individuals and industry experts supports our vision to impact the future of the blue economy,” they explain.
Bluefront has developed its own impact and ESG framework for long-term responsible growth, tailored for small and midcap companies. The ambition with their framework is to secure an easy implementation upon entry and enable each company for a more impact-oriented future.
