Wealth & Finance August 2017

Wealth & Finance International 10 Farmed Seafood Opportunity he contemporary lifestyles enjoyed in most developed countries would not be possible without modern farming. Advanced agriculture has freed people to pursue activities, other than hunting and gathering food, to stay alive. Today, less than 2% of the population in the United States is involved in direct food production. Only one sector continues to commercially hunt wild protein, namely seafood. With declining wild fisheries, concerns about pollution, and growing populations, farm-raised fish is becoming increasingly important to our food security. Consumers are concerned about where their fish comes from and how it is produced. Large-scale fish farm growth has mostly occurred in Asia, and not always using sus- tainable technologies. This industry is now experiencing major growth in North America and Europe, although it’s growth has been finance constrained. The industry is now attracting fresh attention in the finan- cial world, especially following the acquisitions of Cermaq by Mitsubishi 1 and of EWOS by Cargill 23 . Aquacare is seeking forward-looking investors interested in ground-floor opportunities in the aquaculture protein business, to help establish a fund that will provide early stage and growth funding to selected com- panies. Aquacare has identified several attractive aquaculture growth opportunities with experienced management and, successful operations ready to expand their vital protein producing businesses. The fund would be managed by experienced aquaculture business de- velopment managers, overseen by a board of directors representing the investors and will make equity investments in or, provide credit facilities to aquaculture production companies. Each production company will have an experienced management team, a permitted site, proven markets, and current or prior aquaculture management experience. Operations will be for profit, be scalable and designed for production cost advantage. Full details and business plans will be provided to qualified investors upon execution of non-disclosure agreements. Initial aquaculture production companies ACI is an established tilapia breeder in New Mexico, USA. It currently operates the largest tilapia hatchery in the US and supplies farms in Canada, USA and Mexico. ACI has an ample supply of free flowing geo- thermal well water, room for expansion, available labor pool and access to the US market. The planned 28,000 tonne per year farm expansion will produce tilapia, greens, and algae for feed and nutraceuticals. ACI is seeking up to $50 million over three years to undertake a major farm expansion. OA is a fish farming company with operations in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The company presently operates an advanced Seriola (yel- lowtail) hatchery, and supplies fingerlings to both its own and other farms in North America. The company has secured site leases for both land-based and open-water commercial scale grow-out operations and, is currently operating sea cages with weekly harvests and local product sales. The company is seeking a $5 million investment or credit facility to accelerate expansion of its production sites and, to build a solar heated land-based juvenile growth acceleration facility. ND is an established Coho salmon broodstock farm located in BC, Canada. This facility is certified as organic. The Coho program provides egg exports to commercial Coho farms. This Coho is unique in the world and should be considered as a key element in expanding Coho aqua- culture worldwide. ND is also an established Sturgeon farm, producing certified organic meat and caviar. An investment of C$15 would acquire 90% of the business and be used to expand the production capacity of the farm. WFI operated a commercial scale integrated aquaculture and hydropon- ics farm in Massachusetts, USA from 1986 to 2006, when they lost their lease. The company is now preparing to build a 2,000 tonne facility in New York State on a site near the region’s major food distribution hub. The new farm will utilize solar and waste to energy systems to reduce use of conventional energy sources. WFI has developed proprietary sustainable plant based feed formulations that will be milled to the com- pany’s specification by a local feed mill. WFI has roll-out plans for 8-10 additional sites in the USA and Europe. WFI has secured $14 million in soft loans out of a total capital budget of $23 million and is seeking the remaining $9 million to begin construction of the new facility in NY. ÖH in Estonia is an established trout farming company with three production sites, fish processing and marketing. The company has a Baltic Sea site that can be developed into a land-based 3,000 tonne salmon trout farm using recirculating technology. This farm will require € 15 million to construct. ÖH can contribute the operating costs, and the enterprise is eligible for a 45% EU cost share subsidy after construction. AH is a Maine USA based aquaculture company, with a pilot operation growing Seriola (yellowtail) in indoor recirculating tanks. The company has a new site in Maine which can be built out as a major production site for Seriola. The company is seeking $16 million. The global aquaculture industry is growing at a 10% p.a. rate, as its necessary to meet market demand and compensate for the loss of wild- caught seafood. In 2015 US, edible seafood imports were $34.3 billion and exports were $28.4 billion. Aquacare Environment Inc. is a US company engaged in design, construction and support of controlled environment, land-based fish farms worldwide. The company was founded in 1987 and is located in Bellingham WA, USA. T 1708WF02