London-based international investor 3i Group plc has bought the 49 per cent stake of co-shareholder Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) to become 100 per cent owners of Scandlines, valuing the Baltic ferry operator at more than €1.3 billion. As part of 3i’s acquisition of ACP’s stake, Scandlines has successfully refinanced its current debt facilities into a new €875 million package. Initially 3i shares dropped five pence, or 1.44 per cent, to 370 pence, valuing the company at £3.65 billion.
Scandlines was acquired by 3i and ACP for €1.5 million at the peak of the buy-out boom in 2007, and during 2012, after concentrating on shorter routes from Denmark and Sweden to Germany, selling longer Baltic services to Stena Line, it carried 11.7 million passengers, 2.7 million cars and 0.8 million cargo units.
Now concentrating on services between Gedser and Rostock, Puttgarden to Rodby and Helsingborg-Helsingor, Scandlines has received a €6.4 million subsidy from the European Union’s TEN-T programme to fit exhaust scrubbers to double-ended rail, vehicle and passenger sisters Princesse Benedikt and Schleswig Holstein.
