Polaris reaps high-teens return on €1bn sale of Molslinjen

Eliza Punshi
11 December 2020

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Polaris Private Equity has entered into an agreement to sell ferry route operator Molslinjen to EQT Infrastructure for $1bn.

A source close to the deal told Unquote that the sale will generate an 18x multiple for the GP.

The deal comes five years after the Danish GP acquired the company, and is its first exit from its third buyout fund.

In spring 2020, Unquote sister publication Inframation reported that the sale process was delayed due to the collapse in traffic Molslinjen experienced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the source told Unquote that once things had settled down, the sale process wasn't impacted in a material way by the pandemic.

Under Polaris's ownership, the company expanded from two to nine ferry routes and increased the fleet from three to 15 vessels, serving up to eight million passengers annually. It also increased its revenues threefold to DKK 1.9bn (€255m) and earnings fourfold to around DKK 634m (€84.8m) in 2019.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is due to complete in early 2021.

Company
Founded in 1996 and based in Aarhus, Molslinjen is a ferry company, operating routes between Jutland and Zealand and ferry connections to and from Bornholm, Langeland, Als, Fanø and Samsø as well as Sweden and Germany.

The company has also established the Kombardo Express with direct bus routes between a number of larger Danish cities.

It employs more than 700 staff and generated a turnover of DKK 1.9bn in 2019.

People
Polaris - Jan Johan Kühl (managing partner).
Molslinjen - Carsten Jensen (CEO).

Advisers
FIH Partners (M&A); Gorrissen Federspiel (legal).
Equity - Danske Bank (M&A); DC Advisory (M&A); Accura (legal), EY (financial due diligence, tax), McKinsey (commercial due diligence); Arup (technical due diligence).