The exit of senior shipping analyst Omar Nokta has been publicly confirmed for the first time by the boss of Clarksons Platou Securities.
Chief executive Erik Helberg told TradeWinds that the bank has every intention of replacing the veteran researcher, who has been the New York-based head of US securities since September 2019.
TradeWinds broke news on 4 April that Jefferies lead shipping analyst Randy Giveans was leaving the firm after 11 years and would be replaced by Nokta.
“Omar is a very nice guy and we are sad to see him leave,” said Helberg from Oslo following the close of the Nor-Shipping conference.
“We have a great team at Clarksons, so I’m not surprised my colleagues are attractive for other employers. That said, we are over 120 people doing maritime research at Clarksons and, together with our shipping equity research team in Oslo, we are and will always be extremely focused [on shipping analysis].”
Nokta had previously declined to comment on the move, while Giveans confirmed his with an announcement that he had been hired by New York-listed gas player Navigator Holdings to head US-based investor relations and corporate development.
“We are committed to our strong position in the US market and will continue to have a local presence in research in the US going forward as well,” Helberg said.
There has been considerable speculation whether Clarksons would look to hire internally or instead reach out to another senior analyst at a competing bank, which could set in motion a chain reaction of researcher moves.
Helberg said simply that this had not been decided yet, adding that Nokta’s departure “came as a bit of a surprise”.
Before taking the current post, Nokta had worked for about three years as an investment banker for Clarksons Platou. Before that, he had been a shipping analyst for Seaport Global Securities and Dahlman Rose, the boutique New York bank where he began his career in 2004.
Clarksons Platou has taken a team approach to shipping research, with Nokta taking the lead on most of the US-listed stocks and colleague Frode Morkedal, managing director, leading the Oslo-based team.
As reported in this week’s Streetwise newsletter, one senior company executive said Nokta had excelled at educating the Clarksons Platou sales force on public shipowners and market developments through twice-daily briefings.
Jefferies has not yet formally announced Nokta’s hiring, likely because there is a period of gardening leave involved once the analyst has his last day at Clarksons.
