Rolls-Royce said Friday it has signed an agreement to sell its commercial marine business to Norway’s Kongsberg for an enterprise value of 500 million British pounds (U.S. $663 million), and that it will net around 350 million to 400 million pounds from the sale.
The businesses being sold include propulsion, deck machinery, automation and control, a service network spanning more than 30 countries and ship design capability. About 1,000 ships of Rolls-Royce design have delivered to offshore, cargo, passenger and fishing vessel customers worldwide. The companies say their marine businesses are complementary.
Both companies have promoted the idea of unmanned, autonomous ships. In January, Rolls-Royce opened a research facility in Turku, Finland, that it said would develop the technologies required “to shape the future of an increasingly more autonomous global shipping industry.”
Last year Kongsberg entered into a partnership with the fertilizer company Yara to build the world’s first fully electric and autonomous cargo ship. The 120-TEU Yara Birkeland will shuttle products the containers loaded with fertilizer from Yara’s plant in Porsgrunn a short distance to ports in Brevik, six miles away, and Larvik, 32 miles away. The ship would eliminate about 40,000 truck journeys annually.
Rolls-Royce announced a review of its commercial marine operations in January. Employing 3,600 people, with the majority based in the Nordic region, the business generated revenue of 817 million pounds with an operating loss of 70 million pounds.
Kongsberg sells products and services in the oil and gas industry, merchant marine, defense and aerospace sectors. Operating in more than 25 countries with approximately 7,000 employees, Kongsberg had sales of about 14.5 billion Norwegian krone (U.S. $1.8 billion) in 2017.