Nutreco transfers Marine Harvest shares to Pan Fish

International animal feed and fish feed company, Nutreco Holding N.V., has transferred its shares in Marine Harvest N.V. to Pan Fish ASA. With the approval from the UK Competition Commission on 19 December 2006, the transaction has been cleared by all relevant competition authorities.

On 6 March 2006 Nutreco reached an agreement on the disposal of the company’s 75% stake in Marine Harvest. On 28 March 2006 Nutreco received EUR 881 million as an irrevocable payment of the full purchase price for its interest in Marine Harvest.

Nutreco’s business groups, each comprising several business units, together have approximately 75 production and processing plants in some 20 different countries and some 7,000 employees. Nutreco’s net sales in 2005 were EUR 3,002 million.

Pan Fish ASA  is now the world`s largest aquaculture company and has been renamed Marine Harvest. The new logo is a refreshed version of the Pan Fish logo and said the company, combines a description of what the new company is doing as much as it indicates the global ambitions. It has further been decided to use the endorsement developed by Fjord Seafood; Excellence in Seafood - which very much describes an important part of the wider seafood vision of the company.

'We believe this decision takes forward a significant aspect of each of the three founding companies. It combines new and familiar aspects for everyone and it creates a unique, clear identity in the marketplace and strongly indicates our global commitment to the seafood industry and our ambitions to participate in its further restructuring", sayid Atle Eide, CEO.

"The values and other corporate characteristics around our identity will be further developed at the beginning of the new year".

Implementation in 2007 is subject to approval of the new name by an extraordinary general assembly which will be called early 2007.

In other news, Marine Harvest NV, via its  affilliate Marine Harvest US Inc, is selling Sterling Caviar LCC to Stolt Sea Farm Investments B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stolt-Nielsen S.A. for a price of approximately $3,8 milion and the assumptions of loans of $1,2 million, which represents the existing book value of the operations. Sterling Caviar is based in Sacramento, CA.

Caviar is not the core business of Marine Harvest and the divestment has no impact on the results of the company.