Rolls-Royce Agrees Sale of Norway’s Bergen for $131 Million

Rolls-Royce agrees sale of Norway’s Bergen for $131 million

LONDON (Reuters) – Rolls-Royce said it agreed to sell its Norwegian maritime engine business Bergen to UK-based Langley Holdings, in a deal which will boost the British aero-engine maker’s finances by 110 million euros ($130.6 million).

The sale is a small part of Rolls’s 2 billion pound disposal plan to help repair its finances after the pandemic. For investors, progress with the sale of Rolls’s Spanish unit ITP Aero, which could fetch 1.5 billion euros, is of more interest.

Rolls-Royce had previously agreed to sell Bergen for 150 million euros to a Russian company but the deal was blocked in March by Norway on national security grounds.

After that attempt failed, Bergen will now only return 110 million euros to Rolls.

Rolls said on Wednesday that privately-held industrial group Langley was buying Bergen for an enterprise value of 63 million euros, and it would benefit from sale proceeds of 70 million euros plus the 40 million euros of cash currently held by Bergen.

Closing of the deal is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, said Rolls, adding that it had notified Norway and effective completion was scheduled for Dec. 31.

Langley, is based in Nottinghamshire, central England, employs 4,600 people and has units in Germany, France and Italy. It will operate Bergen as a stand-alone business, said the statement.

($1 = 0.8423 euros)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Alistair Smout and Costas Pitas)