Euronav has talked up healthy trading volumes after its free float declined further following a $73m stock buyback.
There has been market talk of the controlling Saverys family taking the Belgian tanker owner private after the repurchase of 4.72m shares at the end of last week.
Throughout the mandatory offer this month by the Saverys’ private Compagnie Maritime Belge for Euronav’s shares following the buyout of John Fredriksen, management said it was committed to maintaining listings in Brussels and the US.
And there seems to be no indication of a change of tack from Euronav.
The family controlled 80.5% of the listed company after the mandatory offer closed, or 88.6% if treasury shares not in the market were excluded. Fearnley Securities said CMB’s stake is now 89.7%, adjusting for treasury shares.
Euronav itself now has just over 10% of the shares after the buybacks.
The family did not sell any of its shares in the deals.
The supervisory board has authorised bosses to repurchase up to 10m shares from 21 March to 28 June.
The shipowner told TradeWinds it had no further comment on these transactions.
But it added: “Our free float is limited in terms of the absolute percentage, but still substantial compared to other shipping companies.
“Just look at the volumes that were traded last week alone.”
Access to capital markets is vital
Euronav has nearly 202m shares outstanding.
Almost 90,000 shares had been traded on Monday morning in 187 transactions.
Last week, chief executive Alexander Saverys told TradeWinds’ Green Seas podcast that capital markets are key to the company’s plan to rebrand Euronav as CMB.Tech through a merger with the family’s clean shipping company.
The idea is to build the combined operation into a multi-sector shipping company whose fleet is powered by ammonia and hydrogen.
“Going forward, if we are successful, we are convinced that we will need to have access to capital markets, whether that’s on the equity side or the debt side,” Saverys said.
“So we think being a listed vehicle in this energy transition, which is going to be very capital intensive, is a big advantage.”
It is not unusual for shipping companies to go “semi-private” by delisting but continue to make bourse announcements as they play the bond markets instead.
Euronav was trading down 0.26% at €14.84 ($16.04) in Brussels on Monday.
Investors sold about $1.2bn in Euronav shares to CMB in the mandatory offer.
Stockholders turned over 69.2m shares representing 31.5% of Euronav’s outstanding stock.
