The Swedish group Stena Rederi AB has signed an agreement to buy the Color Line, Norwegian shipping company that operates in the same segment of the transport of passengers and rotabili of the Stena Line, society of navigation integrally controlled from the group of Gothenburg, but also in the field of the cruises.

The operation will be structured as a share buy-out agreement, according to which Stena Rederi AB - a company entirely controlled by Stena AB - will acquire the entire stock capital of Color Group AS by ONS Invest II AS, a company in turn entirely held by the Norwegian industrialist Olav Nils Sunde and his family. ONS Invest II owns 100% of Color Group, which in turn holds 100% of Color Line and its subsidiaries. The parties agreed not to disclose the value of the transaction, which is subject to the approval of the competent authorities. The completion of the operation is planned towards the end of the first quarter or during the second quarter of 2027.

Color Line has approximately 2,200 employees distributed in four countries. The company has a fleet of five ships serving four international routes, making a stop in seven ports between Norway, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. In 2025 the company recorded a turnover of more than 6.7 billion Norwegian kronor (641 million euros), transporting almost 3.6 million passengers and 150,000 vehicles to and from Norway.

The Stena AB group employs 17,300 people worldwide and has a total turnover of 51,9 billion Swedish kronor (4,66 billion euros). Its company Stena Line, which counts 8,750 employees and a turnover of 20,2 billion Swedish crowns, has a fleet of 40 ships employed on 19 marine routes in Northern Europe and in the Mediterranean.

Once the operation has been completed, Stena previews that Color Line continues to operate as an autonomous and independent entity and brand, maintaining a local management in Norway and ships registered under the Norwegian flag. At the same time, Stena will provide its industrial know-how, its operational reach and experience to further strengthen and develop Color Line, intervening in areas such as decarbonization, technology, digitization, customer service and logistics.