Edda Wind Closes Fleet Sale as Investment Funds Drive Sector Consolidation
Edda Wind, which had been launched as an early service provider dedicated to the emerging offshore wind sector, has officially wound down its operations, completing the sale of 10 ships and ships under construction to North Star and Norwind Offshore. The deal, which was first announced by the investors in Edda Wind in March, is driven by the investments from Partners Group and Navigate Capital Partners, which are supporting growth on consolidation with North Star Norwind.
The company was started in 2015 by Østensjø Group, an offshore provider, and announced plans to build a dedicated fleet of Service Operation Vessels (SOV) and Commissioning Service Operation Vessels (CSOV) for Edda Wind. Wilhelmsen joined as an investor in 2020 and was later joined by Geveran Trading Co., which is controlled by John Fredriksen, and another company associated with Idan Ofer.
While the company was growing, the investors also highlighted challenges in its public company format. They decided to take the company private in 2025, reporting that it would aid in future investment and growth. Instead, they cashed out with reports of a tidy profit.
Wilhelmsen, which owned just over a third of Edda Wind, reported in a stock exchange filing that after accounting for its total investment in Edda Wind ASA since 2020, the transactions will generate a net cash flow of approximately $55 million. It said it would report a net positive accounting effect of $27 million for Wilhelmsen in the second quarter.
Due to certain conditions in one of its charter agreements, Edda Wind will continue to officially own one of the vessels until certain conditions precedent are satisfied later in the year. They anticipate the last delivery will be completed in Q4 2026.
The fleet is being split up, with four vessels going to UK-based North Star, which has aggressively been pursuing growth since its acquisition by Partners Group in 2022. It is pushing to deepen its presence in the European offshore wind market, saying that this acquisition is strategic in broadening its client base and advancing its next phase of growth.
All of this is being made possible by Partners Group, which said, “The long-term SOV market is supported by compelling structural growth drivers, including a growing offshore wind asset base, the location of assets further from shore, rising uptime requirements, and rationalizing the supply chain. North Star is well positioned to capture future market growth." It made a further equity investment in North Star to finance the acquisition of the Edda Wind vessels.
The four vessels that are joining its fleet are Goelo Enabler, Boreas Enabler, Nordri Enabler, and Sudri Enabler, all with associated charters. The firm will now have a fleet of 14 vessels, making it among the largest in Europe. It has a fleet of 37 Emergency Response & Rescue Vessels, which complements its growing SOV fleet business and is the largest of its kind in Europe. It provides mission-critical services to the offshore energy industry under a highly regulated framework, according to the investors, who also highlight that the company is expected to generate approximately £100 million (US$136 million) of run-rate EBITDA, up more than threefold in the last four years. The majority of this increase is derived from the growing SOV fleet business.
The other six vessels in Edda Wind’s fleet were sold to affiliates of Navigate Capital, which highlights that this is its largest transaction to date. Stig Duus Enslev, founding partner of Navigare Capital, highlighted, “Our continued belief in the offshore wind market is unwavering, and we look forward to deepening our cooperation with Norwind Offshore as we jointly support the effort of energy transition.”
Norwind highlights that it is doubling its fleet through the acquisition of six state-of-the-art Commissioning Service Operation Vessels (CSOVs) from Edda Wind. The newly added vessels have either recently been delivered from the shipyard within the past year or are in the final stages of delivery.
“This transaction marks a significant step forward for Norwind Offshore,” said CEO Svein Leon Aure. “It is not just about the scale – it is about readiness. By adding these modern tonnages to our fleet, we strengthen our platform and ability to better support our customers and the offshore wind market in general.”
Navigate already owns seven CSOVs. The six additional vessels will bring the fleet to a total of 13 ships, all being operated by Norwind Offshore.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
Both investment groups highlight the strong opportunities they see in the sector. The European offshore wind market is on a growth trajectory. Some of the factors driving growth include an increasing offshore wind asset base, location of wind farms further from shore, rising uptime requirements, and a rationalizing supply chain.
Data show that the offshore wind sector is expected to see significant multi-decade growth, with installed capacity in Europe growing at a 16 percent annual rate over the next decade. They expect the impact of this expansion to increase the demand for long-term offshore operations and maintenance support services.