Arne Stang Holding, a family business owned and run by the Stang family in Norway, has entered into an agreement to acquire all shares in the NHV Group subsidiary company Airlift Onshore.

Airlift Onshore provides solutions for both onshore and offshore visual site inspections through the combined use of helicopters and drones. It is also the holding company for subsidiaries Vertech Offshore and Airlift.

Airlift, located in Bringeland, Norway, provides drone and helicopters to carry out safety inspections that would otherwise require large and timely resources. It has 15 helicopters located across Norway at Bringeland, Kinsarvik, Stranda, Bergen and Tromsø. Vertech Offshore, located in Lillesand, Norway, operates offshore oil and gas flare tip replacements, employing a unique method for flare tip replacement in collaboration with Airlift's helicopter pilots.

Family company Arne Stang is a holding company operating in special areas of interest, including property through subsidiary company AK Stang Eiendom, fishing through Karmsund Protein and mountain protection through Norsk Bergsikring. CEO Peter Midthun sees significant synergies that the Airlift subsidiaries can offer to the portfolio of businesses already owned by Arne Stang, and says he is looking forward to the challenge of implementing them, trusting that having local ownership will further mature the organisation's business offering and develop the local region: “It will be exciting to sew this together so that we get a well-functioning group of companies that can collaborate across and benefit from different disciplines. Putting the agreement in place has been an ongoing discussion since autumn 2021, and we are pleased to announce that the purchase now appears to be in order."

Chairman of the board Arne Stang adds: “We see Airlift Onshore as an exciting company and believe that local ownership will be important in the future, both to develop the company and the region. Without Airlift's history and location in Sunnfjord, Arne Stang would hardly have invested so heavily in aviation.”

In 2020, the Arne Stang Holding Group had a turnover of 557 million Norwegian krone. Airlift Onshore and its subsidiaries expect a turnover of 300 million NOK this year. In total, the new group will thus have a turnover of approximately 850 million NOK and approximately 185 employees.

NHV Group CFO Laurent Verhelst comments: “Aviation services will be a new operation for Arne Stang, but with the vast level of competence, extensive subject knowledge and experience of the teams that it will acquire, we are convinced of its future success in Norway.”

Airlift director Stian Hårklau concludes: “We have been working on the sale of Airlift for some time, and we are happy that we have now reached a goal with a local owner, so that the activity we have built up over more than 30 years at Bringeland can continue.”