Polaris offers DKK 481m for Mols-Linien

The voluntary offer will see Polaris pay DKK 34 per share for the remaining 70% stake in Mols-Linien, having already acquired 30% of the company over time prior to launching the offer.

Additionally, the GP has received "irrevocable undertakings" that it can acquire an additional 46% of shares and voting rights from Nykredit Bank and Finansiel Stabilitet (Financial Stability), which would bring Polaris' total stake to 76.19%.

The two majority shareholders both took stakes in the ferry operator through debt-for-equity swaps following the global financial crisis.

Nykredit acquired troubled financial institution Forstædernes Bank, which had several lines of credit to individuals invested in Mols-Linien but who later found themselves insolvent, resulting in Nykredit acquiring their holdings in the ferry operator.

Likewise, Finansiel Stabilitet, a government-owned investor set up to acquire troubled Danish financial assets after the crisis, took over large shareholdings in Mols-Linien from failing property investors.

At DKK 34 per share, the offered price represents a 22% premium on the stock's 2 July close, and a 41% premium on its closing price on 2 January.

Polaris said its bid for all the outstanding shares in Mols-Linien was final, but it reserved the right to increase the offer should any competing bids arise.

The GP said it planned to improve Mols-Linien's service as an alternative route to the Great Belt Bridge, which is the main part of the connection between the Jutland peninsula – attached to the European continent – and Copenhagen on the island of Zealand.

If the takeover is approved, Polaris will become the second private equity owner of a Danish ferry operator, sailing in the wake of 3i Group – the firm acquired Scandlines from the Danish government in 2007 for DKK 11.6bn.

Polaris will likely hope its ownership of Mols-Linien turns out to be less troublesome than 3i's ownership of Scandlines, which has led to the GP taking legal action against the Danish state over plans to build a fixed link between Denmark and Germany along the route taken by Scandlines' ferries.

A similar link has been publicly discussed between Zealand and Jutland along Mols-Linien's main route, though no concrete plans have been made.

Company
Mols-Linien is a Danish ferry operator that sails between the western Danish island of Zealand and the cities of Ebeltoft and Aarhus in the north-east of Jutland, offering the main oversea route between Copenhagen and Jutland.

Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Aarhus, Mols-Linien operates three high-speed catamaran-type ferries and employs around 230 people.
Mols-Linien generated a DKK 611.9m turnover in 2014 and EBIT of DKK 86.2m.

People
Jan Johan Kühl is the managing partner of Polaris Private Equity. Søren Jespersen is the CEO of Mols-Linien.

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