Norfolkline Bought by DFDS Seaways

DFDS Seaways has bought fellow ferry operator Norfolkline from AP Moller Maersk in a €346m (US$496.7m) deal, which also sees Maersk taking a 28% share in DFDS.

DFDS Seaways currently operates the Newcastle to Amsterdam and Harwich to Esbjerg routes in the UK and they will add Norfolkline’s Dover to Dunkirk, Rosyth to Zeebrugge and 2 Liverpool to Ireland routes to their offering.

For the time being these two operators will remain seperate and you can continue book ferries with both operators as normal.

DFDS’ CEO Niels Smedegaard described the acquisition as “the perfect match” and said

This means, that DFDS’ network is expanded to include two new markets, the Channel and the Irish Sea, we can combine our operations on the North Sea, and our ability to secure volumes for the network is greatly strengthened. Through this acquisition we gain scale and come closer to our vision of building a European sea based transport network.The integration of our companies will generate considerable synergies and we expect this transaction to improve our earnings capability once the market recovers.

The deal sees DFDS get Norfolkline for a cash payment of €170m and a 28.8% share worth roughly €176m, based on current market prices.