Hurtigruten Shares at 6-yr High After Bid

Norway's Hurtigruten, which operates scenic cruise lines along the country's fjords and into the Arctic, has agreed to a takeover offer from a group led by several board members, driving its shares to six-year highs.

Hurtigruten said on Wednesday it was recommending an offer of 7 crowns per share, a 55.6 percent premium on its last close, led by London-based private equity firm TDR Capital, property tycoon and board member Petter Stordalen and Chairman Trygve Hegnar.

The bid, which values the company at about 2.94 billion crowns ($444 million), sent Hurtigruten's shares 52 percent higher, its highest level since 2008.

"When you do a scan of the leisure space, Hurtigruten is probably the most unique opportunity, so we quickly focused and realised that the Norwegian coast was somewhere we would like to invest," John Rosen, partner in TDR Capital said.

TDR Capital holds 90 percent of the venture that is bidding for Hurtigruten while Stordalen and Hegnar hold 5 percent each.

"You need strong owners who are committed to invest in the future. And we want a bigger share of the global expanding leisure market," Stordalen told Reuters at one of his luxurious hotels in Oslo.

"These are to be the five most exciting years in the company's history," he said.

The company initiated an efficiency programme in 2012 in order to cut costs and boost top line growth by developing new concepts.

"We are already seeing the results of sustainable and structural changes, with significant cost reductions and top-line growth. We expect Hurtigruten to turn profitable this year," DNB Markets wrote in a research note on Tuesday.

Hurtigruten's independent board members unanimously recommended the deal with Hegnar and Stordalen abstaining from the discussion.

Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Balazs Koranyi