Swedish private equity firm EQT has acquired Danish ferry and floating bridge operator Molslinjen A/S from a group of shareholders led by Polaris, a Nordic private equity firm headquartered in Copenhagen.
The firms did not disclose financial details, but a person familiar with the situation told Private Equity News the “transaction is around €1bn in size”.
The deal was concluded by EQT’s infrastructure arm to support Molslinjen’s continued sustainability agenda through investments in the decarbonisation of the ferry fleet and the acceleration of the transition to renewable fuel sources, the firm said.
The company, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, was established in 1963 as a single route operator creating a shortcut between Jutland and Zealand, thereby also a connection between the country’s two largest cities. Since then, Molslinjen has grown to more than 700 employees and 15 vessels serving over eight million people per year across nine routes, including connections to Sweden and Germany.
It generated revenues of around 1.9 billion Danish kroner ($309m) in 2019, according to EQT.
With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure V is expected to be 20%-25% invested based on its target fund size of €12.5bn. At the moment, EQT has more than €75bn in raised capital and over €46bn in assets under management across 16 active funds.
The deal is expected to close in early 2021.
Source: Reuters
