Hurtigruten is a leading provider of cruise based, adventure tourism. Having originated as a transport and tourism company in the 19th century, it now offers authentic, year-round travel experiences on its fourteen-strong fleet of ships. The company offers cruises to an international customer base along the Norwegian Coast as well as expedition cruises in the Arctic and Antarctic and trips with Hurtigruten Svalbard, the largest tour operator on the island of Spitsbergen.
Initial investment
2014
Sector
Leisure
Initial transaction size
NOK 5.5bn
Hurtigruten is a unique business with a strong position in a specialist market. The company enjoys certain defensive characteristics including serving a long-term government contract to operate ships up and down the west coast of Norway, strong asset backing in the form of its ships and an iconic brand developed over many years.
Operating in the fast growing “adventure” travel segment of the cruise market, we felt that the company had the opportunity to sell its product to a broader, more global audience. In addition, we saw the opportunity to invest additional capital at an attractive rate of return through refurbishments and upgrades of the ships.
We acquired Hurtigruten in a public-to-private transaction in 2014. Following acquisition, we launched a comprehensive transformation plan to reposition Hurtigruten as a leading global adventure travel operator. The commercial organisation was upgraded and a major refurbishment capex programme was undertaken.
The company’s Expeditions division was significantly expanded, transforming from one to five vessels, including two newly built, state-of-the-art hybrid ships. This enabled the business to capture surging demand for adventure travel, with new itineraries introduced across the Arctic, Antarctic and the Americas.
Strong initial growth in sales and profitability was driven by a strategic repositioning of the brand alongside the refurbishment capital programme. Performance was subsequently heavily impacted by the global pandemic’s effect on the travel sector.