the types of game fish see panfish . marine harvest asa type allmennaksjeselskap traded as ose mhg nyse mhg industry seafood food processing headquarters bergen norway key people alf helge aarskog ceo ole eirik ler y chair leif frode onarheim deputy chair products farmed salmon and trout processing and distribution of seafood revenue nok 27.88 billion 2015 1 profit nok 1.42 billion 2015 1 total assets nok 40.26 billion end 2015 1 total equity nok 18.18 billion end 2015 1 number of employees 12 454 2015 1 website www.marineharvest.com marine harvest asa pan fish prior to february 6 2007 2 is a norwegian seafood company with operations in a number of countries around the world . the company s primary interest is the production processing and sale of farmed salmon the operations of which are focused on norway scotland canada the faroe islands ireland and chile . the group has a share of between 25 and 30 % of the global salmon and trout market 3 4 making it the world s largest company in the sector . 3 5 marine harvest also owns a value added processing unit which prepares and distributes a range of seafood products and a number of smaller divisions . the company assumed its current form as a result of massive expansion in 2006 when pan fish asa conducted an effective three way merger with marine harvest n.v. and fjord seafood . 6 the group is headquartered in bergen and is dual listed on both the oslo stock exchange where it is a constituent of the benchmark obx index 7 and the new york stock exchange . contents 1 history 1.1 constituent companies 1.1.1 marine harvest 1.1.2 pan fish 1.1.3 fjord seafood 1.2 merger 1.2.1 change in identity 2 operations 2.1 production locations 2.2 processing and sales 3 criticism 4 references 5 external links history edit constituent companies edit marine harvest edit marine harvest operation on loch ailort scotland one of the oldest atlantic salmon farms . the first company to use the name marine harvest was founded in lochailort scotland by unilever in 1965 8 at the outset of the atlantic salmon farming industry . 9 10 unilever had been developing farming methods at a research facility there . 11 the company began operations in chile in 1975 . 8 in 1992 unilever sold the business to american firm marifarms 12 and two years later ownership of the company passed to booker plc when it was merged with booker s aquaculture subsidiary mcconnell salmon . 13 after deciding to divest marine harvest mcconnell so as to concentrate on its core cash and carry business in 1998 booker eventually succeeded in finding a buyer in july 1999 . the dutch based nutrition firm nutreco acquired the unit for gb 32.7 million adding it to its fish food and salmon farming unit . 13 14 nutreco s initial attempt to further expand into the fish farming sector by acquiring the seafood arm of norsk hydro was blocked on the recommendation of the united kingdom competition commission in late 2000 15 but the deal was approved in march 2001 after nutreco agreed not to acquire hydro seafood s scottish assets . 16 17 nutreco retained the name marine harvest for the unit s fish farming operations and established interests in the emerging farmed cod halibut yellowtail and barramundi markets . 18 in may 2005 nutreco merged its fish farming operations with the salmon trout halibut tilapia cod sturgeon and caviar businesses of stolt nielsen 19 creating a new stand alone company again named marine harvest . nutreco held a 75 % stake in the joint venture with stolt taking the remainder . 20 pan fish edit pan fish holding as was founded in 1992 with a strategy to acquire many fish farms domestically and abroad . 8 by 1997 the firm had made numerous acquisitions and opted to list on the oslo stock exchange as pan fish asa . 8 however the company had borrowed heavily to finance its rapid growth by the end of 2001 debts had reached over nok 4.7 billion . 21 when the market price of salmon collapsed in 2001 22 pan fish encountered extreme financial difficulties posting a heavy loss in 2002 23 and having to sell off assets in order to repay creditors . 24 a major refinancing operation implemented in late 2002 25 coincided with the dismissal of the entire board of directors including founder and ceo arne nore . 26 the company slowly recovered over the following years returning to profitability in 2005 . 27 fjord seafood edit fjord seafood has its origins in torgnes invest a company founded in june 1996 which initially operated a single fish farm in the norwegian town of br nn ysund . 28 expansion over the following four years was aggressive by september 2000 when fjord seafood as it was now called listed on the oslo stock exchange the company s portfolio comprised 60 ongrowing concessions of which 50 were wholly owned as well as a number of smolt and broodstock farms slaughterhouses and processing factories . 29 fjord continued to conduct mergers and acquisitions the purchase of belgian fish processing company pieters n.v. in november 2000 30 was swiftly followed by the addition of contisea the seafood joint venture of contigroup and seaboard corporation . 31 as with pan fish poor market conditions saw fjord s share price worsen dramatically in 2001 and with it the ability to pay off its debts . the company s future was only secured thanks to a nok 700 million bail out from major shareholders that september . 32 attempts to grow the company through merger and acquisitions were also frustrated a planned merger 33 with the aquaculture businesses of domstein then the biggest shareholder of fjord 34 and state controlled cermaq was aborted in june 2002 after opposition from parties including contigroup and seaboard who controlled over 20 % of shares between them . 35 nevertheless fjord stabilised its financial position through restructuring and cost cutting measures . 36 merger edit moves toward consolidation in the aquaculture sector were sparked by the activity of shipping magnate john fredriksen norway s richest man before abandoning his citizenship of the country in 2006 . 37 fredriksen s first major move into the industry came in the second quarter of 2005 when domstein s 24 % stake in fjord seafood was sold to his investment vehicle geveran trading . 38 around the same time pan fish announced that two companies indirectly controlled by fredriksen had acquired a combined 48 % of the company s outstanding shares . 39 in october of that year with salmon prices high 40 fjord submitted an offer for a majority stake in cermaq to the norwegian government which was preparing it for a public listing . however as with the first merger attempt in 2002 fjord failed in its bid this time the offer was rejected by the government . 41 fredriksen s efforts to effect change finally bore fruit in march 2006 as geveran trading succeeded in purchasing marine harvest from its joint owners for 881 million before immediately turning ownership over to pan fish . 42 43 geveran also sold its stake in fjord seafood to pan fish at the same time . 44 with its remaining shares purchased by pan fish fjord seafood de listed from the oslo stock exchange on 6 july 2006 . 45 with regulatory hurdles in the united kingdom and france cleared 46 47 the marine harvest group was brought under the control of pan fish by the end of 2006 . to allow the merger to go ahead the sale of the former pan fish scotland division was agreed with the regulatory authorities . 48 after an initial deal to sell the unit to norskott havbruk owners of rival company scottish sea farms was called off in july 2007 49 pan fish scotland was spun off into a separate publicly traded entity lighthouse caledonia that november . 50 geveran trading held a 28 % stake in the company upon completion of the merger 3 a shareholding which has since increased to almost 30 % as of march 2009 . 51 change in identity edit with the creation of a much enlarged company complete the pan fish management announced a complete change in its identity in december 2006 . the firm s new brand was chosen to reflect each of its three main constituents marine harvest was again revived as the new name for the company and the fjord seafood slogan excellence in seafood and a reworked version of the pan fish motif were also included in the new logo . 52 atle eide ceo of pan fish from 2003 continued in his position but resigned in september 2007 for personal reasons . 53 eide was replaced on an interim basis by leif frode onarheim before the ceo position was filled permanently by former ge healthcare executive se aulie michelet in march 2008 . 54 michelet was unexpectedly removed from her position in march 2010 55 and was replaced by former ler y seafood ceo alf helge aarskog . 56 operations edit entrance to a marine harvest farm on loch arkaig lochaber scotland . marine harvest produces atlantic salmon halibut and white fish . 57 the company has an integrated value chain with the company making its own broodstock in freshwater followed by growth and maturing in seawater harvesting manufacturing in processing plants and distribution . production is concentrated in norway scotland ireland canada the faroe islands and in chile with sales globally . 58 brand names used are delifish smoked fish from chile ducktrap smoked in the united states clare island organic salmon from ireland donegal silver salmon from ireland kendall brook salmon kritsen smoked in france la couronne smoked in belgium pieters distribution sterling white halibut from norway xalar salmon oil from norway . 59 production locations edit in norway in addition to the corporate headquarters in bergen and sales offices marine harvest operates about 100 seawater sites along the coast . these are supplemented with 28 fresh water sites two broodstock plants in bjugn and ask y two hatcheries in ygarden and r rvik and four processing plants in eggesb nes her y and ryfisk and ulvan . production is centred around atlantic salmon but also includes white halibut . 60 aqua boy a norwegian live fish carrier used to service the marine harvest fish farms on the west coast of scotland in scotland marine harvest operates 25 sea farms plus five hatcheries in kilmarie lochailort kinlochmoidart finfish and inchmore four freshwater loch sites a harvest station in mallaig and a processing plant in fort william . head office is in edinburgh and all produce is atlantic salmon . 61 in chile marine harvest operates 53 sea water and 22 fresh water sites in addition to four processing plants in calbuco chilo puerto montt and santiago . regional head office is located in puerto montt and output is salmon trout coho and salar . 62 in british columbia canada marine harvest operates two processing plants seven hatcheries and 37 sea water sites near five towns in british columbia campbell river port mcneill port hardy quatsino and klemtu . produce is atlantic salmon . 63 in the faroe islands marine harvest operates fresh water sites in hellur and sea water sites in oyndarfj r ur haldarsv k h sv k and kollafj r ur . produce is atlantic salmon . 64 in ireland marine harvest operates one broodstock plant two hatcheries three fresh water sites twelve sea water sites three processing plants all but four sea water sites in county donegal the latter being in county mayo . output is atlantic salmon . 65 processing and sales edit in france processing and distribution plants are located in boulogne sur mer challans lorient ch teaugiron dunkerque poullaouen and landivisiau . these support an extensive sales