Private equity investors see losses pile up after bet on Norway oil services

Oslo

TIMING the bottom of the oil rout has proven difficult for Norwegian private equity investors.

Investments of 1.67 billion kroner (S$272.3 million) by HitecVision AS and Ferd AS in offshore-platform builder Kvaerner ASA, accommodation-rig operator Prosafe SE and seismic surveyor Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS) have lost about 50 per cent of their total value since they were made, Bloomberg calculations show.

"It's always very hard to find the bottom," Peter Hermanrud, an analyst at Swedbank AB, said. "But the horizon of a…