Abu Dhabi-based Pure Salmon develops and operates high-tech facilities for farming salmon on land. The company raised $180 million from New York-based Fortress Investment Group and Hong Kong-based Tor Investment Management to develop its first farm in Japan and fourth globally.
The farm will be spread over 34 acres of land and have a production capacity of 11,000 tons per year. The technology Pure Salmon has designed – a recirculating aquaculture system, or RAS – offers a sustainable alternative to open-pen salmon farming in the ocean. With sea-based farms, antibiotics, chemicals and parasites can leach into the surrounding marine ecosystem.
“Once completed, the facility is expected to be one of the most advanced land-based salmon farms in the world,” Fortress wrote in a statement.
Pure Salmon also operates farms in France, the US and Brunei.
Localizing food systems
Pure Salmon was launched and is owned by 8F Asset Management, a Singapore-based impact private equity firm that focuses on aquaculture. (Pure Salmon appears to be the 8F’s only portfolio company.)
The company aims to “produce high-quality salmon close to end consumers,” said founder Stephane Farouze. Most of Asia’s farmed salmon is imported from Norway and Chile.
“Japan is a strategically important market, and this project reflects our long-term commitment to developing resilient, local food production systems,” said Farouze.
8F last year raised $460 million in a mix of debt and equity for the facility in Japan and for Pure Salmon Technology, a subsidiary in Norway that sells its farming systems.