Salmon farmer Tassal will raise up to $100 million from investors to help fund new fish farms in Tasmania and state-of-the-art equipment, in a bid to offset the loss of young salmon in Macquarie Harbour.
The owner of the Tassal, Superior Gold, Tasmania Smokehouse and De Costi Seafood brands recently announced it would almost halve the number of fish put into Macquarie Harbour to around one million over the medium term.
The decision comes after Tasmania's environmental regulator in January ordered Tassal destock its Franklin lease in Macquarie Harbour, after finding 14 non-compliance issues.
In November, Tasmania's Environmental Protection Agency advised salmon leaseholders in Macquarie Harbour that it would reduce the number of salmon allowed in the harbour, after a report showed marine fauna in the vicinity of the salmon farms had declined.
Tassal said on Thursday that it plans to invest around $95 million to accelerate the rollout of improved technologies and new feeding barges to improve fish survival rates and the amount of food required to reach growth targets.
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The group has also earmarked around $53 million to establish salmon farming operations at Tasmania's Okehampton and oceanic sites in Storm Bay, and an additional $38 million to accelerate fish growth towards its target of five kilograms a fish.
Tassal expects the investment to boost revenue and operational earnings from 2017/18.
The company has spent about $130 million on salmon production capacity and the De Costi Seafoods acquisition since July 2015, which was funded from operating cash flow and debt.
Tassal has launched a capital raising that will raise $80 million via a fully-underwritten institutional share placement and up to $20 million through a non-underwritten share purchase plan.
The group has also secured new credit facilities with Rabobank, Westpac and Bankwest to "further strengthen" its balance sheet and lower its risk profile.
Tassal shares are in a trading halt at $4.90.
