Hurtigruten and its owners, Petter Stordalen and European fund TDR Capital, have taken a 40% stake in Kleven as part of a refinancing exercise.
The process has also seen the addition of several investors bringing an additional NOK 300m ($38.3m) into the specialist Norwegian shipbuilder.
Kleven’s current owners, John Kleven AS and H-Invest AS are bringing new funds to the company and will be joined by new investors including Age Remøy and Magnus Roth’s InYard Invest, Lurssen-Group, and Per Lillebo.
“It has been important for us to bring in new investors with an industrial, long term perspective, and with a shared ambition to further develop Kleven to be a world leading shipbuilding group,” said Kleven chairperson Kjersti Kleven.
Kleven is currently building the world’s most environmentally friendly expedition vessels – the hybrid powered Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen for Hurtigruten.
“Kleven was the best candidate for building our new expedition vessels. This shows that the shipbuilding group is world class,” said Hurtigruten chief executive Daniel Skjeldam.
“Now we are strengthening Kleven, the region and Norwegian shipbuilding industry for the future and this permits further growth.”
In addition to being one of the new investors, Lurssen – one of the world’s leading superyacht designers and builders – has also entered into a long-term cooperation agreement with Kleven.
“We are pleased to see the interest there has been in investing in Kleven. This is a solid and long-term solution, creating opportunities for new and innovative projects,” said Kleven chief executive Stale Rasmussen.
Kleven said in a statement that the refinancing process is now close to being completed, with some formal conditions pending, including final approval from the company’s banks and Norwegian Guarantee Institute for Export Credits (GIEK)
