Norway blocks Rolls-Royce sale of engine maker to Russia

[OSLO] Norway will prohibit the planned sale by Britain's Rolls-Royce of a Norwegian maritime engine maker to a Russian company on national security grounds, the Nordic country's justice minister told Parliament on Tuesday.

The Norwegian government on March 9 said it had temporarily suspended the US$178 million sale of Bergen Engines to TMH Group while it assessed the security implications for the country's navy and the civilian sector.

"We now have sufficient information to conclude that it is necessary to prevent the company from being sold to a group controlled from a country with which we do not have security cooperation," Justice Minister Monica Maeland of the centre-right minority government told Parliament on Tuesday.

Announcing the planned disposal, Rolls-Royce said last month the transaction with Russia's TMH was part of the group's overall a plan to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic.

Norwegian opposition parties have criticised the government for being slow to respond to what they said was a national security threat, after it emerged that Rolls-Royce had informed authorities of a potential Russian deal late last year.

REUTERS