(May 30, 2006) Fjordlaks and Borregaard have entered into a long-term strategic agreement for Omega-3 oils.  The Norwegian seafood-company will deliver high quality crude fish oils which will be refined and marketed by Borregaard’s wholly owned subsidiary, Denomega Nutritional Oils.  The resulting taste and odour free Omega-3 products, “Denomega” will be sold to the global “functional foods” markets.

The agreement between Fjordlaks and Orkla-owned Borregaard formalises a long-term cooperation on delivery and purchase of crude oils from multiple fish species.  The oil volumes are tailor made for the demand of Denomega products and hold an exceptional taste and odor free quality.

Denomega Nutritional Oils is already using raw material from Fjordlaks for Denomega production.  Under the new agreement with Fjordlaks, Borregaard plans to build a new oil refinery on Fjordlaks’ premises in Ålesund.  The refinery will be located in close proximity to Fjordlaks’ planned new slaughter facility for whitefish, thus making it possible to refine the oil fresh.  The co-localization also enables optimal logistics and cost effective operations.

The Denomega products are marketed both as food ingredients and as food supplements. Denomega based on Fjordlaks crude fish oil is currently in over twenty commercially available food products around the world. This number is expected to grow to over a hundred products by the end of 2007 such that the consumers obtain the Omega-3 oils’ health benefits through their regular diets.

Fjordlaks has a long tradition of innovation. The company has been a pioneer in the baccalao industry and is today the world’s largest manufacturer of this product.  Fjordlaks was also early in the farming of whitefish.  The cooperation with Borregaard is a result of a long-term commitment to exploit all the fish’s components, including the nutritional oil.
“ Our combined R&D efforts on fish oil has begun to pay off and the market is ready for taste and odour free Omega-3 oils.  The combination of Fjordlaks’ competency in fish and Denomega Nutritional Oils’ leading position in oil refining and marketing enables us to take advantage of the significant growth in this market”, says Anders Pedersen, Chairman of the Board and owner of Fjordlaks.

“The agreement with Fjordlaks provides us with an excellent long-term access to a high quality raw material for our Denomega products. This gives us a good foundation to grow along with the market, says Director in Borregaard Ingredients Bjørn Erik Amundsen who is responsible for Denomega Nutritional Oils.

The Fjordlaks Group is a leading manufacturer of seafood, based in Ålesund, Norway.  The group achieved sales of approximately EUR 100 million. In 2005 and revenues of more than EUR 125 million are expected for 2006.  Fjordlaks is the world’s largest producer of baccalao, the largest exporter of frozen salmon trout to Japan and a leader in the farming of cod and saithe.

Denomega Nutritional Oils is a leading player in Omega-3 fish oils and has production facilities in Fredrikstad and Leknes, Norway.  The company is part of Borregaard’s new business area, Borregaard Ingredients, which has interesting global niche positions within vanillin products, yeast and yeast extracts and Omega-3 products.  Borregaard is an international company with strong positions within specialty products based on natural raw materials as well as niches within fine chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry.  Borregaard had revenues in 2005 of approximately EUR 575 million.

Contact persons:
Fjordlaks:   Anders Pedersen, tel. +47 7010 3819.
Borregaard:  Bjørn Erik Amundsen, tel +47 69 11 80 00 +47 481 85 327 
Dag Arthur Aasbø +47 918 34 108, Head of Corporate communications