Hampidjan hf. has signed a purchase agreement for all shares in the Norwegian company FiiZK Protection AS, which is a leader in the production and sale of salmon lice skirts for the aquaculture sector and has about 80% market share of salmon lice skirts in Norway.
A lice skirt is a protective wall made of fabric that is placed around the fish farm pen to prevent salmon lice larvae from entering the fish pen and settling on the salmon. This protective wall is normally customized for each pen individually and usually reaches 10-15 meters below the surface of the sea, well below the living area of the lice, which is in the top meters of the sea. The life cycle of the salmon lice is such that the lice lays eggs that hatch in the surface of the sea, and the larvae are then carried around by currents and attach themselves to the salmon if there is a chance. In addition to preventing lice from entering the fish farm, the protective wall is an effective defense against jellyfish that can enter the fish farm and cause great damage to the salmon.
The company has a production facility in Valsneset outside Trondheim in Norway.
FiiZK Protection AS’ facility at Mjåtveit, outside Bergen, West Norway, is not part of the transaction. This business, which manufactures technical textiles including canvas for closed and semi-closed fish cages, will be transferred to FiiZK group company FiiZK Industries AS prior to execution of the share purchase. It is estimated that the purchase will be finalized at the beginning of September.
FiiZK Protection's operations and future opportunities
With this purchase, Hampidjan further strengthens its product offering to companies in aquaculture and can take advantage of FiiZK Protection's knowledge and experience to offer new and excellent solutions in the fight against lice in aquaculture. The purchase also enables Hampidjan to sell FiiZK Protection's lice skirt products in the countries where Hampidjan already has operations and Hampidjan sees great opportunities in increasing the sale of lice skirts into those markets.
FiiZK Protection has demonstrated consistent growth and market success. In the year 2023, the turnover of the acquired business amounted to about NOK 100 m (8,4 m€) with EBITDA ratio of 18%. These statistics reflect the strength and stability of FiiZK Protection, which will now become part of the Hampidjan Group. For comparison, Hampidjan Group's turnover in 2023 amounted to around 322 m€.
After the purchase, the company's employees will be around 30, located primarily in Valsneset with some office-based personnel in Trondheim.
The company will operate under the FiiZK Protection banner for the next few months, but the company's name will be changed as the FiiZk group operates other companies under the FiiZK brand in Norway.
Hjörtur Erlendsson, CEO of Hampidjan, says:
"We are very pleased to have FiiZK Protection join the Hampidjan group, and see the purchase as an important step in the continued development of our services to the aquaculture sector, as we already have very strong activities related to aquaculture in many parts of the world, especially in the North-Atlantic Ocean. Now we can offer an even wider range of products and services to fish farming companies, further strengthening Hampidjan's position in this important market.
We would like to thank the main owners of the FiiZK group, the Norwegian companies BEWI Invest and Nekkar, for great communication and a constructive sales process where the interests of both parties were taken into account.
We welcome the employees of FiiZK Protection, who in recent years have built up a powerful and high-quality production of lice skirts in Valsneset, to Hampidjan and look forward to continuing to work with them to further strengthen the activities there and in Trondheim in the coming years.”