North Sea operator Dong Energy is set for a £1.2billion cash injection from a group of investment firms, including Goldman Sachs.
The deal will see the state-owned energy firm also looking at a stock market listing in the future.
The funding is a welcome cash boost for the Danish state-owned firm, which announced plans to cut 400 jobs across Europe after suffering a profits fall in the summer.
It has also been forced to shut down production from the Nini, Nini East and Cecilie North Sea fields, after the Siri platform was closed following the discovery of cracks in the structure of the rig.
Goldman Sachs will take a 19% stake in the oil and gas firm, paying around DKK 8billion (£0.9billion), while Danish pension funds ATP and PFA are taking a 5% and 2% stake respectively for a combined DKK3billion.
“DONG Energy is one of the leading energy companies in northern Europe,” said Goldman Sachs’ head of merchant banking for Europe, Andrew Wolff.
“Henrik Poulsen and his team are world class managers and have set ambitious goals for the company. We believe in this vision and are excited to work with the company and the Danish State to help grow the business and provide environmentally friendly energy and infrastructure for European markets.”
The deal, which values the company at £3.5billion, will see the Danish Government’s stake in the company reduced to around 60%.
The company will also seek to make an initial public offering once market conditions are right, the energy firm said.
“With the injection of new equity, we have almost fully delivered on our financial action plan and have thus secured the necessary platform for pursuing our ambitions for the coming years,” said chief executive Henrik Poulsen.
“I regard the interest displayed by these three well renowned private investors as a vote of confidence in the company’s potential, our strong market positions and our highly competent employees.”
The company is in talks over how to bypass the Siri platform in order to bring the Nini, Nini East and Cecilie fields back online.
Dong posted first-half profits of £45million for the first half of the year, with earnings of £892million after being boosted by increased income from the company’s offshore wind operations, including the giant London Array wind farm.
Danish finance minister Bjarne Corydon said the increased funding would enable Dong to invest further in offshore wind and in increasing its oil and gas exploration and production programme.
The company has more than 20 licences on the UK Continental Shelf, including the Laggan-Tormore and Rosebank fields west of Shetland.