Ferry Company Scandlines Sells its Freight Routes to Stena Line

Squire Sanders' team from Berlin and Brussels advised one of the largest European ferry companies, Scandlines on the sale of its freight route based network (including vessels on such routes) to Swedish ferry operator Stena Line. Next to Squire Sanders, the deal team also included lawyers from the Danish law firm Gorrissen Federspiel and from PwC Legal in Germany. With this transaction, five routes of Scandlines to Scandinavia and Baltic were sold to Stena Line. The sale of the freight routes will help Scandlines to focus on its core business, operating routes in southern part of the Baltic Sea and on its high frequency passenger/cargo-related business linking Germany, Sweden and Denmark. The transfer of the business is still, amongst others, subject to the approvals by the relevant competition authorities.

Scandlines was founded in 1998 by a merger of the largest national ferry operators in Germany and Denmark. The company was privatised in 2007 and is held today by German Allianz Capital and British 3i. In 2010, 12.4 million passengers travelled with Scandlines and the company transported 2.8 vehicles and 800,000 freight units. The total turnover of Scandlines' Group in 2010 was EUR 611 million.

Stena Line is one of the world's largest ferry operators with Europe's most comprehensive route network, including routes in Scandinavia and around the United Kingdom. The company employs around 5,700 people and transported 15.1 passengers, 3.2 vehicles and 1.6 freight units in 2011. Stena Line's annual revenue in 2011 was SEK 9,080 million.

Scandlines' advisors:

Squire Sanders (Berlin/Brussels). Partners: Jost Arnsperger (Coordination Germany, Corporate/M&A, Berlin), Dr. Christian Bleschke (Tax law, Berlin), Martin Falke (Labour law, Berlin), Oliver Geiss (Competition law, Brussels); Associates/Counsels: Eveli Lume (Corporate/M&A, Berlin).

Gorrissen Federspiel (Copenhagen). Partners: Finn Møller (Coordination Denmark; Corporate/M&A), Martin André Dittmer (Competition law); Associates: Maria Bardram (Maritime law). 

PwC Legal (Hamburg): Dr. Andreas Eckhardt (Labour law).

Stena Line's advisors:

Wistrand (Stockholm). Partners: Mattias Boqvist (Coordination, Corporate/M&A); Tobias Bengtsson (Competition law, Johannes Wårdman (Corporate/M&A).

Norton Rose (Hamburg/Bussels). Partners: Dr. Klaus von Gierke (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Dr. Uwe Eppler (Tax law), Christian Filippitsch (Competition law, Brussels), Dr. Frank Weberndörfer (Labour law, Hamburg); Associates: Katharina von der Heyde (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Merle Templin (Labour law, Hamburg), Dr. Brigitte Hidding (Competition law).