EQT sets sail to Nordic Ferry Infrastructure; Main Capital makes a double add-on

Good morning Eurohubsters, Nina Lindholm here with the penultimate Dealflow of the year.

There is still no sign that deal activity will quiet down for the holidays. This morning we have EQT combining two ferry companies into one larger Nordic platform, Palatine’s portfolio company picking up an environmental consultancy and Main Capital-backed Alfa eCare making two add-ons.

Better together. EQT Infrastructure will launch Nordic Ferry Infrastructure through the combination of Molslinjen and Torghatten, Danish and Norwegian ferry transportation companies.

The merger forms a pan-Nordic ferry operator with a portfolio of more than 65 routes operated by over 100 vessels and transporting over 16 million passengers annually, according to EQT.

“Combining Molslinjen and Torghatten will allow us to accelerate platform-wide digitalisation efforts and facilitate the roll-out of new commercial and operational excellence initiatives,” said Carl Sjölund, partner within EQT Infrastructure’s investment advisory team. “As we are now embarking on the next phase on this exciting journey, EQT Infrastructure is proud to invest in the continued decarbonisation of the companies’ fleets to further reduce the environmental footprint of ferry transportation across the Nordic seas.”

Read our full reporting on the deal here.

This isn’t the first time we have covered Nordic ferries here on PE Hub Europe. In late August, I spoke with CapMan’s Ville Poukka about the firm’s exit from Norled, a marine transportation company based in Stavanger, Norway.

Poukka was very pleased with the transportation infrastructure sector after the exit. “I encourage other infrastructure investors to research this sector,” he told me. “If there’s a chance to get in, it’ll be an interesting case which will see growth.”

You can read the whole interview here.

In the wild. Moving on from ferries to protected species. Palatine-backed Cura Terrae, via its group company Ecus, acquired environmental consultancy Naturally Wild.

Naturally Wild, based in Stockton-on-Tees in England, provides expertise for any project that may affect protected species. The company will work alongside Ecus’s existing teams in Sheffield, Basingstoke, Birmingham, Barnard Castle, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter and Manchester.

“Palatine’s Impact Fund, Cura Terrae, Ecus and now Naturally Wild, are all aligned in a shared long-term commitment to place purpose, responsibility and sustainability at the heart of our growth strategy,” said Greg Holmes, investment manager at Palatine. “Cura Terrae are already delivering on these ambitious growth plans with targeted strategic acquisitions and we have a strong pipeline of further M&A opportunities to broaden our environmental solutions that help take care of the Earth.”

Our full reporting on the deal is available here.

Palatine’s portfolio companies have been busy recently. At the end of last week, Palatine-backed Lucion Group completed its fourth acquisition of the year, buying surveying firm Midland Survey Ltd.

Make it double. Main Capital’s portfolio company Alfa eCare acquired Swedish process management companies 2Bra System and Selfpoint.

Motala-based 2Bra System delivers services for the public labour assistance market. Selfpoint, headquartered in Malmö, provides a low code platform for workflow and process management mainly for public institutions.

The acquisitions are the sixth and seventh by Alfa eCare, a software company that offers services to public and private healthcare providers.

“Together the joint group is well positioned to leverage the existing product suite to further expand to other Nordic countries while maintaining a local touch through expanding and developing the product offering both organically and by acquisitions,” said Wessel Ploegmakers, partner and co-head of the Nordics office at Main.

Check out our full coverage of the deal here.

That’s all from me. I’ll write to you tomorrow in the last Dealflow of the year.

Cheers,

Nina