Bluefront Equity invests in Akvasafe. Seafood investor Bluefront Equity invests in inspection and certification company Akvasafe AS. Alf-Helge Aarskog will join the company’s board of directors.
“Akvasafe plays an important role in the continued industrialisation and professionalisation of the growing aquaculture industry. The company has experienced profitable growth in recent years. We see great opportunities to increase the product portfolio and we have access to capital to realise these ambitions,” says Simen Landmark, partner at Bluefront Equity.
Akvasafe is an inspection and certification specialist. The company is an accredited inspection body in areas such as construction certificates, mooring analyses, site analyses and component certificates.
Akvasafe also offers product certification for ocean-based fish farming, including mooring components, float collars, barges, nets and service stations. Within land-based farming, the company offers product certification of vessels, pipes and hoses and delivery of technical reports.
Akvasafe has also recently been accredited for provision of environmental services, which means that the company can offer a comprehensive range of services for fish farmers.
The company’s head office is in Bergen, Norway, but it provides services to fish farmers all over Norway. Including its subsidiary Sematek, Akvasafe currently has 20 employees.
“We have delivered healthy organic growth since we were founded in 2012. Bringing Bluefront Equity onboard as shareholder means that we can ramp up our investment level – both organically and through acquisitions – to offer our aquaculture customers an even more complete range of services and products. We look forward to accelerating our growth rate and creating even more jobs,” says Ingve Karlsen, CEO and co-owner of Akvasafe.
Sematek
Akvasafe’s wholly owned subsidiary Sematek is also part of the transaction. Sematek is an independent testing and inspection company that offers inspection, testing, verification and technical services for materials in plastic, steel, aluminium or concrete that are utilised in the seafood industry.
Sematek has an interesting product portfolio, including wave breakers that can provide calmer seas at both ocean-based fish farms and in ports. Calmer seas at a fish farm means improved safety for employees, operating hours can be extended, and wellboats and service boats will have easier and greater flexibility for access and mooring. In addition, wear and tear on the fish farming facilities and moorings will be reduced, which will extend the life of the fish farm and reduce the risk of escapes.
Sematek has also developed and delivered sensory and surveillance systems for monitoring of fish farm moorings, and leakage monitoring of floating structures.
“The people involved with Bluefront Equity have proven that they know how to scale up businesses, with the customers’ interests at heart. We look forward to cooperating with highly experienced and professional industry experts and investors,” says Tore Birkeland, managing director of Sematek.
Share purchase and issue
It is Bluefront Equity’s first fund, Bluefront Capital I, that invests in Akvasafe. The investment is a combination of a share issue and purchase of shares from existing Akvasafe shareholders. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.
Following the completion of the share purchase and share issue, Bluefront Capital I will own half the company. The other half will still be owned by Akvasafe’s founders and current owners: CEO Ingve Karlsen, executive chairman John Knudsen, and Sematek’s managing director Tore Birkeland.
Bluefront Equity’s Alf-Helge Aarskog and Simen Landmark will join Akvasafe’s board of directors.
Third investment
The investment in Akvasafe is Bluefront Equity’s third. The first investment was in the ozone and oxygen specialist Redox AS, while the second was in Bio Marine AS, which specialises in oxygen and lighting solutions for fish farming.
Bluefront Equity primarily seeks to invest in supplier companies that contribute towards increased traceability, better fish health and welfare and enhanced quality of the end-product. Additionally, the company focuses on digitising and industrialising the seafood industry.
The company’s first fund, Bluefront Capital I, is a certified sustainability fund in line with the EU’s comprehensive taxonomy guidelines, a so-called Article 8-fund.
Among the investors in Bluefront Capital I are the Bergesen family’s Havfonn, Nysnø Klimainvesteringer, the Anker family, Klaveness Marine, Steensland-gruppen, Commonfund, Cuberas new impact fund, in addition to aquaculture industry seniors such as Alf-Helge Aarskog, Aino Olaisen, Jan Sverre Røsstad and Bjørn Apeland.