Stena agrees to buy Norway's Color Line from the Sunde family
The Swedish family group behind Stena Line has signed a share purchase agreement for Norway's largest cruise and ferry operator. It is not a done deal yet: regulators still have to approve it, and completion is expected in the first half of 2027.
Stena AB, the Swedish family-owned group behind ferry operator Stena Line, has agreed to acquire Norwegian shipping company Color Line, the companies said in a press release on 26 October 2026. The deal is an agreement, not a completed takeover. It is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close towards the end of the first quarter or during the second quarter of 2027.
The seller is Norwegian industrialist Olav Nils Sunde and his family. The parties have agreed not to disclose the price. Stena says Color Line will stay a separate brand with local management in Norway and Norwegian-registered ships.
What Stena has agreed to buy
According to the release, the deal is structured as a share purchase agreement. Stena AB's wholly owned subsidiary Stena Rederi AB will buy all shares in Color Group AS from ONS Invest II AS, which is wholly owned by Olav Nils Sunde and his family. Color Group in turn owns 100% of Color Line and its subsidiaries.
Color Line describes itself as Norway's largest cruise and ferry operator. It has about 2,200 full-time equivalents in four countries and a fleet of five ships on four international routes, calling at seven ports in Norway, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. In 2025 it generated more than NOK 6.7 billion in revenue and carried nearly 3.6 million passengers and 150,000 freight units to and from Norway, the release says. Norwegian business daily E24 lists the routes as Oslo–Kiel, Sandefjord–Strömstad, Kristiansand–Hirtshals and Larvik–Hirtshals.
The buyer
Stena AB is one of Sweden's largest family-owned companies, with businesses in shipping, ferries, offshore, property and finance. The group employs 17,300 people and has total revenue of SEK 51.9 billion. Stena Line, founded in 1962 and based in Gothenburg, runs 40 ships on 19 routes in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, with 35,000 sailings a year, 8,750 employees and revenue of SEK 20.2 billion, according to the release.
Why it is not a done deal yet
The signing does not change ownership today. The parties say the proposed transaction is subject to regulatory review, and until then both companies will keep operating as separate, independent businesses. Stena and Color Line say the signing will not affect sailings, bookings or existing customer and supplier relationships. The companies have not said which authorities will review the deal.
The two operators already meet in some markets. E24 notes that Color Line sails to Kiel, where Stena Line also runs a route from Gothenburg, and that Stena Line operated an Oslo–Frederikshavn service until 2020. How regulators view such overlaps is one of the open questions before completion.
What the companies say
Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line, said in the release: "This is a true milestone in Stena Line's history, further strengthening our ability to be a reliable link between places, people and communities."
Color Line's CEO, Trond Kleivdal, said: "Color Line is one of the most recognized and valued brands in our industry, and Stena wants to preserve these strengths while giving us a stronger foundation for the company's further development and renewal as part of Stena."
Stena says it will bring its industrial experience to Color Line in areas such as decarbonisation, technology and digitalisation, customer service and logistics. For the seller, it is the end of a long chapter. DN reports that Sunde is selling after 30 years, and E24 quotes his own statement describing the sale as a wistful but right choice.
What it means for European founders and investors
This is a family-to-family deal in an old industry, but it carries lessons for younger companies. Owner-led businesses across Europe face the same question sooner or later: who takes over when the founder or family steps back? Here the seller picked a buyer that is also privately and family owned and that promises to keep the brand, management and flag in Norway. For founders thinking about succession, that kind of promise can matter as much as the price.
It also shows how consolidation tends to play out in capital-intensive sectors. Ferries need expensive ships, port access and, increasingly, investment in lower-emission technology. Stena explicitly lists decarbonisation and digitalisation among the areas where it wants to develop Color Line. Large groups with deeper balance sheets are often better placed to fund such upgrades than a single-family operator, and that logic is likely to keep driving deals in transport and logistics.
For startups, the deal points to customers. Maritime decarbonisation, booking and pricing software, freight logistics and port technology all depend on operators that are willing to invest. A combined Stena and Color Line, if approved, would be a larger buyer in the North Sea and Skagerrak region. Suppliers with products in those areas may want to watch how Stena integrates Color Line's operations after completion.
For investors, the main point is timing. Nothing changes until regulators sign off, and the companies expect completion in the first half of 2027 at the earliest. The price has not been disclosed, so the deal does not yet offer a clear valuation benchmark for the sector. It continues a busy autumn for European M&A, after deals such as Frasers taking control of Hugo Boss and CVC and GBL's offer for Recordati.
Europreneurs Media will report on the regulatory review and completion as details are published.
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