Mowi buys Loch Etive and Loch Awe fish farms

Fish farming giant Mowi has bought Dawnfresh Farming Ltd, almost a year after Dawnfresh’s parent company went into administration last March, The Oban Times understands.

 

Dawnfresh was one of the UK’s largest fish producers and processors. Its subsidiary Dawnfresh Farming Ltd, which runs three fish farms on Loch Etive and Loch Awe, continued to trade solvently and was marketed for sale by the administrators, FRP Advisory.

 

Documents filed at Companies House today announced that Mowi Scotland now has “significant control” of Dawnfresh Farming Ltd, meaning that Mowi now owns at least 75 per cent of the target company’s share capital.

 

The documents also confirmed the appointment of Ben Hadfield, chief operating officer (COO) Farming, Mowi Scotland, Ireland and Faeroes, as a director of Dawnfresh Farming as of February 7.

 

Mowi has declined to comment, but more details are expected to emerge over the next few weeks.

 

Dawnfresh Farming operates seven fish farms and hatcheries across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

 

The company raises freshwater trout at Tervine and Braevallich on Loch Awe and Loch Earn, and loch trout (“sea trout”) at Loch Etive. Dawnfresh is the largest trout producer in the UK, and the largest supplier worldwide of Scottish loch trout.

 

Given the difficulty in gaining consent for new or expanded fish farms in Scotland, it is believed there was a great deal of interest among Dawnfresh’s competitors.