Analysts at Fearnley Securities believe that Belgian giant CMB.Tech, controlled by the Saverys family, may sell 34 non-core and older vessels worth over $1 billion after completing its merger with dry bulk owner Golden Ocean Group.
The Brussels and New York-listed company will merge with John Fredriksen’s former company, Golden Ocean Group, next week to form a fleet of 251 vessels.
Fearnley Securities analysts Fredrik Dybwad, Nils Thommesen, and Erik Christian Borthen said the merged group’s trading liquidity will improve significantly and it will be a “different” company from its first day of trading on August 20.
“We believe CMB.Tech’s next focus will be to divest non-core and older tonnage, which over time could unlock total proceeds in excess of $1bn,” they argued.
“We believe this helps alleviate some of the remaining capex burden, while also opening the door for initiating dividend distributions,” the analysts said.
The Fearnley team calculates that 34 non-core and older assets worth $1.08bn could leave the fleet.
The investment bank expects CMB.Tech to focus on capesize and newcastlemax bulkers in the future, with kamsarmax and panamax bulkers potentially phased out as the business is adjusted.
The list for sale includes: eight older capesize bulkers (worth $198m) and 10 kamsarmax bulkers that could generate $191m.
In addition, there are four panamax bulkers that could fetch $70m, five VLCCs worth $320m and seven suezmax tankers worth $303m.
Fearnley further pointed out: In the long-term strategy, CMB.Tech may divest its crew transfer vessel (CTV) fleet. Analysts see the fleet as a springboard for its entry into the commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) market.
With the delivery of six new CSOV newbuildings by 2027, the existing CTV fleet may gradually be classified as non-core assets. According to Fearnley’s assessment, the 60 CTVs have a total valuation of $173m, with an average price of about $2.9m per vessel.
