Well here's some news Jibber!Tuna dance to Clean Seas tuneThe...

Well here's some news Jibber!

Tuna dance to Clean Seas tune
The Age - Business: Chris Milne
October 31, 2007

"OVERSEAS investors are eyeing listed Australian aquaculture company Clean Seas Tuna as it prepares to launch a $10 million capital raising to expand its production of yellowtail kingfish and mulloway and - it hopes - begin breeding prized southern bluefin tuna in captivity.

Interest in the Port Lincoln-based company is increasing as it nears a key point in its brief history, with 24 broodstock tuna only weeks away from the spawning season.

Chairman Hagen Stehr, a veteran Port Lincoln tuna fisherman, said several overseas investors had expressed interest in taking stakes in the company, as it sought to "close the cycle" and become the first fish farmer in the world to breed southern bluefin tuna.

Analysts said Clean Seas Tuna was making a profit but a breakthrough into breeding tuna would take the company into another realm.

"If they're successful, the sky's the limit for the company and its share price," financial services provider Ord Minnett's Tony Catt said.

"They have put together cutting-edge technology and a top team to breed tuna, but there are a lot of risks. I can see them failing a few times before they get there, but they are very confident."

Tolhurst Noall's Brian Dunn is impressed by progress but warns the shares can fluctuate significantly because they are tightly held, with the Stehr family having a 58 per cent stake - one reason investment group Argo has stayed away so far, according to managing director Rob Patterson.

Nevertheless, analysts believe Clean Seas Tuna will have no trouble raising another $10 million. They are expecting a placement to overseas investors and a rights issue to existing shareholders to raise the funds for expansion, with shareholder approval being sought at the annual meeting on November 20 to buy Stehr Group private associate company Clean Seas Aquaculture Growout, which provides growing, harvesting and marketing services to the listed entity.

Apart from making the wealthy Port Lincoln family even wealthier - its fortune is now about $250 million, according to BRW's Rich List - the move will deliver the listed company a fully integrated operation.

Independent expert Pitcher Partners, in declaring the deal fair and reasonable, says the benefits of consolidation will include a significant reduction in costs, expansion of fish production and an end to potential conflicts of interest.

It should also help Clean Seas Tuna to further develop world markets for its fish and place the company in a position to grow up to 18,500 tonnes of fish annually, the expert's report says - provided the southern bluefin tuna join the breeding party.

The aquaculture company raised $18 million in its public float in late 2005 and has poured several million dollars into its quest.

Stehr, who said he turned down an offer from the late Kerry Packer, because Packer wanted 50 per cent of the action, said new investors were keen to get aboard but he would not reveal their identities.

The biggest shareholder after the Stehr family is Futuris Corp unit Elders which has taken a 5.5 per cent stake in shares and converting notes.

Meanwhile, the 24 broodstock are heading for their breeding ground in the southern Timor Sea.

Or so they think. Computer simulation of climate and currents, sunrises, sunsets and starry nights in a massive $6 million tank at Arno Bay is aimed at convincing the 150 kilogram fish that they are on their annual migration to the Southern Ocean and have now turned northwards around Cape Leeuwin and are heading back to the Timor Sea.

If the ruse works, the tuna will spawn in a few weeks' time and millions of fertilised eggs will be harvested from the tank and taken to the hatchery.

Success in hatching fingerlings and growing them in sea pens would enable Clean Seas Tuna to bypass the present 5200-tonne quota for the wild catch and supply seriously depleted worldwide fish stocks.

The aim is annual production of more than 5000 tonnes of prime tuna worth about $20 a kilogram.

In April, only months after transferring the broodstock from sea pens to the onshore breeding tank, Clean Seas Tuna's share price peaked at $1.88 on indications that spawning was starting. The males performed but the females failed to release eggs to be fertilised.

"It was too soon," Stehr said. But this time he is more confident. The fish have settled down and started to display "courtship" behaviour.

The prospect of success has edged the share price up to $1.50 from recent lows around $1.

There are hurdles ahead but if they are cleared by the Arno Bay team, using their experience with kingfish and mulloway, commercial production of small tuna weighing 7.5 to eight kilograms could begin in early 2009.

Clean Seas expects to produce 4000 tonnes of kingfish this financial year - about 60 per cent of it for export markets, including Britain, where supermarket giant Sainsbury has just started taking delivery of chilled kingfish at the rate of about five tonnes a week. The export fish are fetching about $12 a kilogram.

The company added hatchery and growing capacity by taking over rival kingfish firm SA Aquaculture Management for $4.2 million last year, and will expand further with the proposed acquisition of Clean Seas Aquaculture Management.

Clean Seas Tuna boosted operating revenue from $1.15 million to $7.76 million last financial year, turning a break-even result in 2006 into a $1.1 million profit in 2007 - although the net result was underwritten by a $6 million gain in the value of its fish stocks.

The aquaculture company raised $18 million in its public float in late 2005 and has poured several million dollars into its quest.

Stehr, who said he turned down an offer from the late Kerry Packer, because Packer wanted 50 per cent of the action, said new investors were keen to get aboard but he would not reveal their identities.

The biggest shareholder after the Stehr family is Futuris Corp unit Elders which has taken a 5.5 per cent stake in shares and converting notes.

Meanwhile, the 24 broodstock are heading for their breeding ground in the southern Timor Sea.

Or so they think. Computer simulation of climate and currents, sunrises, sunsets and starry nights in a massive $6 million tank at Arno Bay is aimed at convincing the 150 kilogram fish that they are on their annual migration to the Southern Ocean and have now turned northwards around Cape Leeuwin and are heading back to the Timor Sea.

If the ruse works, the tuna will spawn in a few weeks' time and millions of fertilised eggs will be harvested from the tank and taken to the hatchery.

Success in hatching fingerlings and growing them in sea pens would enable Clean Seas Tuna to bypass the present 5200-tonne quota for the wild catch and supply seriously depleted worldwide fish stocks.

The aim is annual production of more than 5000 tonnes of prime tuna worth about $20 a kilogram.

In April, only months after transferring the broodstock from sea pens to the onshore breeding tank, Clean Seas Tuna's share price peaked at $1.88 on indications that spawning was starting. The males performed but the females failed to release eggs to be fertilised.

"It was too soon," Stehr said. But this time he is more confident. The fish have settled down and started to display "courtship" behaviour.

The prospect of success has edged the share price up to $1.50 from recent lows around $1.

There are hurdles ahead but if they are cleared by the Arno Bay team, using their experience with kingfish and mulloway, commercial production of small tuna weighing 7.5 to eight kilograms could begin in early 2009.

Clean Seas expects to produce 4000 tonnes of kingfish this financial year - about 60 per cent of it for export markets, including Britain, where supermarket giant Sainsbury has just started taking delivery of chilled kingfish at the rate of about five tonnes a week. The export fish are fetching about $12 a kilogram.

The company added hatchery and growing capacity by taking over rival kingfish firm SA Aquaculture Management for $4.2 million last year, and will expand further with the proposed acquisition of Clean Seas Aquaculture Management.

Clean Seas Tuna boosted operating revenue from $1.15 million to $7.76 million last financial year, turning a break-even result in 2006 into a $1.1 million profit in 2007 - although the net result was underwritten by a $6 million gain in the value of its fish stocks."