Havila Voyages, the Norwegian expedition cruise to coastal voyage start up, has decided to go public after raising between NOK400 million and NOK500 in fresh equity in a private placement, the company said in a statement.

The funds would be used to secure the financing of the construction of the four 15,800 gross ton ships the company has n order in Turkey.

Five investors have agreed to subscribe for NOK232.5 million of the new equity between themselves provided that the company can find other investors to subscribe for the rest, up to a total of NOK500 million.

 Provided that the planned equity increase goes through as planned, shares in the company should be listed on the Oslo stock Exchange before the end of July.

The Saevik family that today has full control of the company would retain a stake of more than 50% after the equity raise through their Havila Holding investment company, Havila Voyages said.