Axcel News

A.P. Moller-Maersk , Danske Bank and Nordea Bank will sell their shareholdings in shipping lender Danish Ship Finance worth 4.25 billion Danish crowns ($638.05 million) to a consortium of Danish investment funds, the company said Wednesday. The company, which distributes loans to shipping companies based on vessel mortgages, will be taken over by Danish pension funds PFA, PKA as well as Nordic equity fund Axcel. The deal values the company at 4.72 billion crowns, the company said. The divestment comes less than a week after shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said it would split into two units and focus on its container shipping business.

Headed by Axcel, an investor group has formalized an agreement with the Danish company J. Lauritzen Holding to attain Aalborg Industries. Aalborg, which is one of Denmark's large industrial companies specializing in the field of boilers and other heat generating equipment, agreed to allow investors to set up a new holding company with shares to be distributed among the investor group. The investor group also includes LD, FIH, and Aalborg president and CEO Freddy Frandsen, senior vice president and CFO Svend Ole Aagren, and group vice president Jorn Nielsen.