John Fredriksen buys into Euronav in the week following the termination of merger plans between Frontline and the Belgian carrier.
Photo: Ritzau /Ints Kalnins
A scuttled merger does not stop John Fredriksen from buying heavily into Euronav.
Through his company Famatown Finance Limited, the Norwegian-borne shipping tycoon has acquired an additional 5.13 million shares in the Belgian tanker liner, according to a stock exchange release.
The newly acquired shares bring Fredriksen up to a 20.32-percent stake in Euronav, and the news come just over a week after the Fredriksen-controlled tanker carrier Frontline officially announced its unilateral termination of plans to merge with Euronav.
The Belgian Saverys family obstructed the merger, having recently assumed the majority shareholder position in Euronav with group CMB already to its name.
While Fredriksen and Frontline view large synergies to be had if the carriers’ tanker fleets were to merge, the Saverys family, however, wants to pull the company in a more sustainable direction and relinquish ambitions to form the world’s largest tanker carrier.
In relation to the botched merger, Pareto chief analyst Eirik Haavald expected Fredriksen and Frontline to benefit from buying into the Euronav fleet, allowing the company to capitalize in spite of the merger attempts gone awry.
”We will probably have a situation at our hands with one major Belgian shareholder pushing Euronav to relinquish tanker sailings, and two other shareholders, Fredriksen privately and Frontline, looking to expand its tanker vessel fleet. If they can agree to a sit-down, it proposes an obvious possibility for Euronav to offload vessels,” Haavaldsen told Norwegian financial news outlet Finansavisen.
