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Chile's Invermar raises $22 mln in share debut
CHILE - Chile's Invermar, a salmon farming company, raised $22 million when it sold a 23 percent stake at a price of 220 pesos per share on Thursday in its market debut on the Santiago Stock Exchange.
The stock sale included new shares in the company and a stake sold by a current owner. The company plans to invest some $19 million in business expansion.
Invermar, controlled by Chile's Montanari family, said 76.5 percent of the shares sold on the exchange were a new issue and the rest belonged to a partner in the company.
According to Invermar, Chile will overtake Norway this year as the world's biggest salmon producer, and Invermar is the first Chilean salmon farmer with shares on the local bourse.
"There are a lot more waiting behind us," said Mario Montanari, president of the company.
Montanari said the company, which also produces oysters and food pellets for farmed salmon, wants to become the first Chilean salmon exporter to China, and may have to raise more capital in the coming months to invest in selling to Asia.
Chile and China concluded free trade talks in October, and by mid-2006 tariffs on most products exchanged between the two countries will come down to zero.
Invermar, which sells salmon to U.S., Japanese and European markets, estimates 2005 sales of about $240 million, 20 percent more than last year.
Invermar sells to six of the 10 biggest retailers in the world, the company said. ($1 = 535 Chilean pesos)
Source: Reuters - 11th November 2005
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