Norway: Solstad mega-merger creates largest offshore vessels firm

Farstad Shipping announced Monday that its stakeholders have approved a three-way merger to combine its business with Solstad Offshore and Deep Sea Supply. The merged firm – to be called Solstad Farstad – will have a fleet of 154 modern ships, making it among the largest offshore vessel operators in the world.

“With this solution, we provide Farstad, Solstad and Deep Sea Supply with an industrial platform to sustain the current downturn in the Offshore Support Vessel market and be well positioned to exploit a market recovery. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with our banks, bondholders and other stakeholders”, said CEO Karl Johan Bakken of Farstad Shipping.

The complex transaction will leave Kjell Inge Røkke’s Aker Capital with up to 25 percent of the new company and John Fredriksen-controlled Hemen Holding with up to 19 percent, but the leading Norwegian shipowners have agreed to harmonize and equalize their stakes. Fredriksen and Røkke are said to have been closely involved in negotiating the terms of the merger.

The Solstad family will own about seven percent, and Solstad CEO Lars Peder Solstad is proposed as the leader of the merged entity. It is Solstad’s second major M&A transaction in a year, following the purchase of REM Offshore last July.

Full Content: The Maritime Executive

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.