Rolls-Royce offloads ‘Boaty McBoatface’ marine arm for £500m
Rolls-Royce on Friday sold the unit responsible for designing Boaty McBoatface to Norwegian marine giant Kongsberg for £500 million.
The FTSE 100 company will net £350 million to £400 million in proceeds from the sale, due to pension liabilities and costs, and use the cash to further strengthen its balance sheet.
The commercial marine division designs and builds equipment for ships, including the captain’s chair, and employs around 3600 staff, mostly based in the Nordic region. It also designs drone ships, the marine equivalent of self-driving cars.
A slump in offshore oil and gas markets, the unit’s biggest customer, has taken its toll in recent years, driving the division to a £70 million loss last year. The staff will move over to Kongsberg, which employs 7000 people globally.
Rolls’ chief executive Warren East said the sale “builds on the actions we have taken over the last two years to simplify our business”.
East put the commercial marine division under review in January after shrinking Rolls’ divisions from five to three: aerospace, defence and power systems.
In 2016, the public voted to name a new polar research vessel Boaty McBoatface. It was eventually called RRS Sir David Attenborough.
