Britain’s Rolls-Royce is in advanced talks to sell its Norwegian maritime engine-maker Bergen to UK-based engineering group Langley Holdings, a source close to the matter said, ensuring a disposal plan continues to progress.
Rolls-Royce is aiming to raise 2 billion pounds from disposals by 2022 as part of plans to repair finances which have been battered by the pandemic. Airlines flew less, cutting one of Rolls’s main sources of income.
Bergen is a small part of the asset sale plan — a previous attempted sale valued it at 150 million euros — but any deal will reassure investors that the programme remains on track.
Rolls-Royce declined to comment on the deal, which could be announced on Thursday when the group is due to publish first-half results.
Investors are more interested in an update on the sale of Rolls’s Spanish unit ITP Aero, which the company hopes will go for up to 1.5 billion euros.
Sky News reported earlier on Tuesday that Rolls had picked privately-held Langley Holdings as the buyer for Bergen.
Rolls-Royce had previously agreed to sell Bergen to a Russian company but the deal was blocked in March by Norway on national security grounds.
The potential new buyer, Langley, is based in Nottinghamshire, central England, employs 4,600 people and has units in Germany, France and Italy, where it is a manufacturer of advanced electric motors and generators.
Bergen is based on Norway’s west coast, and has been owned by Britain’s Rolls-Royce for more than 20 years. It supplies NATO member Norway’s navy as well as the global shipping industry.
Source: Reuters.com