Hurtigruten, Management | She has been with the group for 18 years – now Asta has quit

Already at the age of 29, she hijacked one of the top jobs in the company. Now, after almost two decades in the company, Asta Lassesen is leaving.

Lassesen himself has not answered Nordlys’ inquiries about the departure. However, Hurtigruten’s press contact Øystein Knoph can confirm that March 31 was the tromsøværing’s last day at work.

The details of the departure are not known.

“Asta Lassesen has no severance package, but a completely ordinary severance agreement. As for all employers, the content of it is between the employee and employer,” Knoph states in an email to Nord24/Nordlys.

Great talent

At the beginning of the 10th century, Lassesen was considered one of the country’s greatest leadership talents. In 2011, after a few years at Hurtigruten, she went straight into senior management as CFO.

She later held the role of both commercial director and operations director in the company. In 2020, Lassesen became director of Hurtigruten’s new expedition company HX. She has formally been that until this year.

“In collaboration with Hurtigruten Group’s CEO, Daniel Skjeldam, Asta was decisive in the establishment of HX as a world leader in sustainable adventures,” it says on Hurtigruten’s own website.

Here Lassesen is also given credit for leading the launch of the world’s first hybrid ship and Hurtigruten’s growth in the expedition market.

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On notice for one year

But new structural changes were also the end of the Hurtigruten story for Lassesen. The 42-year-old announced just under a year ago that she would not join when the expedition company moved from Oslo to London. Lassesen lives in Tromsdalen.

– Asta Lassesen, as CEO of Hurtigruten Expeditions, does not want to commute from Tromsø, where she lives with her family, to London, and will therefore of her own accord move to a position as chief of staff for a limited period, before she leaves the company, said vice president for communications in Hurtigruten, Anne Solsvik, to Nord24 last year.

It took ten months before she finally left the company.

“Due to the ongoing processes of splitting HX and Hurtigruten into two separate companies, she remained in the Hurtigruten Group as chief of staff in HX and in the group until 31 March this year, when she had her last day of work”, says press contact Knoph in day.

In the Brønnøysund register, Lassesen is still listed as general manager and chairman of Hurtigruten Expedition Cruises AS. This is about to be changed, according to Hurtigruten’s communications department.

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Good wage

The recent annual report from the Hurtigruten Group shows that Lassesen can probably withstand being unemployed for a few months. In the termination year 2023, the 42-year-old was paid 413,000 euros in total compensation. This corresponds to NOK 4.8 million at today’s exchange rate. In addition, she has shares in the company valued at NOK 7.5 million. The shares could potentially have an even higher value in the event of a possible sale of the Hurtigruten Group.

She is still a good distance away from CEO Daniel Skjeldam. The CEO was paid NOK 19.1 million in 2023. The overall group management received a payment of over NOK 40 million in 2023, according to the annual report.

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Large deficits

Hurtigruten’s operations in Norway are making a profit, largely thanks to government service purchases of around NOK 700 million, according to the annual accounts for 2023. The expedition part of the company, on the other hand, has blood-red numbers. In March, it became known that the Hurtigruten group had a total loss of NOK 2.9 billion last year.

The company has had to go through several extensive refinancings with the supply of new capital via manager TDR Capital, based in London. After the last refinancing, the interest-bearing debt is a whopping NOK 15 billion.