Kongsberg–Rolls-Royce deal completed for estimated US$525M

Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen has finalised its acquisition of the commercial marine division of British-headquartered Rolls-Royce

With final approval from the European Commission, the deal – agreed in July 2018 – valued Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine at £500M (US$660M, at the time). Reports from the financial press today valued net proceeds for parent company Rolls-Royce Holdings, PLC at between £350-400M (US$460-525M).

In 2018, Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine reported a net loss of £35M (US$46M) on total revenue of £726M (US$952M). In comparison, Kongsberg Gruppen earnings came in at Nkr14.4Bn (US$1.68) in 2018. With the Rolls-Royce entity included, the Kongsberg group tallied Nkr22Bn (US$2.6Bn) in 2018.

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Closure of the deal joins Rolls-Royce’s ship design, propulsion and machinery arm with Kongsberg’s navigation, communication, control and simulation systems. Both businesses have been active in developing automated vessel technologies.

Most recently, in December 2018, Rolls-Royce and Finferries demonstrated the world’s first fully-autonomous ferry in Finland’s Turku archipelago.

Since 2017, Kongsberg has been working on the world’s first autonomous container ship, Yara Birkeland, which is scheduled for completion by 2020.

As such, the acquisition offers potential for Kongsberg to develop and integrate multiple vessel automation technologies, as described by Kongsberg Maritime executive vice president Bård Bjørløw.

“Our goal is to further develop our track record of innovation and dedication in helping our customers meet the evolving challenges of the maritime industry, be it through cutting-edge autonomy and digital solutions or highly reliable power and propulsion systems,” he said in a statement.