Scandanavian low-cost long-haul carrier Norse Atlantic Airways indicates it is exploring part-ownership by another airline as an option for its future strategy.
Norse Atlantic serves transatlantic routes using a fleet of Boeing 787s.
The company has been engaged in rounds of fundraising, through share issues, to shore up liquidity over the winter season dip.
But it is looking to define its future strategic direction and has tightened its links with Seabury Securities by recruiting the company as its investment banker.
Seabury had already started working with Norse Atlantic towards the end of last year in a strategic advisory capacity.
At that time the carrier had attracted the interest of two airlines – neither of them identified – seeking to explore “industrial opportunities”, it states.
Norse brought in Seabury to help shape the carrier’s strategic path and reinforce its market position in response to the changes in the air transport sector.
But having conducted this initial assessment, Seabury will take on the role of assisting the airline with pursuing some of the options it has helped draw up.
These include “developing strategic partnerships” with another airline, it states, which could include its taking a “material ownership stake” in Norse.
Norse chief executive Bjorn Tore Larsen says the Seabury agreement is an important step and that it intends to progress towards a conclusion on prospects which will “ultimately benefit our customers, shareholders and employees”.
