North Star secures £275 million financing for offshore wind fleet growth
Expanded lending group including Rabobank, LBBW and KfW signals increased confidence in North Star's strategy
Leading integrated offshore infrastructure services company North Star has completed a £275 million (GBP) debt financing, adding to debt commitments to support continued growth, broadening its lender group and improving its terms.
As the business prepares for its next phase of growth across the UK and Europe, the new investment demonstrates investor confidence in the world's largest operator of service operation vessels (SOVs), following its recent acquisition of four SOVs from Edda Wind. The commitments secured cover existing shipbuilding commitments in full and provides additional capital for further acquisitions and newbuild activity.
The package is structured across sterling and euro tranches, reflecting North Star’s revenue base in both currencies. North Star’s lending group now includes new participants Rabobank, KfW IPEX-Bank and LBBW, with increased commitments also secured from existing lenders RBS, AIB, Scottish National Investment Bank and RBC. The confidence shown in North Star from existing and new lenders providers further credibility to the company’s ambitious plans for continued growth. RBC Capital Markets acted as lead advisor on the transaction.
Fraser Dobbie, North Star chief financial officer, said: 'This deal reflects the scale we've built and the path we are on. As the business has grown, so too has our ability to attract new lenders and secure better pricing and terms, a dynamic that keeps reinforcing itself. Rabobank, LBBW and KfW IPEX-Bank are exactly the calibre of new partner we want, alongside the banks and institutions that have backed us for years.
'For our clients, this package means further certainty on our ability to deliver the vessels we commit to during the tendering process, which matters more as competition for offshore wind contracts intensifies. Confidence in our balance sheet is now as much a part of our story as our reputation for high-performance SOVs and experienced crews.
North Star chief executive officer, Gitte Gard Talmo added: 'Having established the company as the world’s leading SOV and ERRV owner and operator, we are now looking to build on our operating and financing capabilities to consider what other offshore maritime markets could demonstrate the right balance of risk and return to our investors.'
Since entering offshore wind in 2021, North Star has committed over £750 million in SOVs and secured significant contracts including wins with Dogger Bank, RWE, EnBW and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. The four-ship acquisition completed in April 2026 takes its offshore wind fleet total to 14, a step closer to achieving its ambition of 40 SOVs by 2040.
North Star is backed by Partners Group, one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, and has bases in Aberdeen, Lowestoft, Newcastle and Hamburg. It has been operating for 140 years and employs a workforce which includes 1,700 onshore personnel and seafaring crew.
Source: North Star
