Danish shipping investor J Lauritzen has increased its holding in BW Epic Kosan (BWEK) by adding a 6% stake to its holding.
Oslo-listed LPG carrier owner BWEK said it had been told that parent BW Group had sold 9.6m shares to Lauritzen at about NOK 16.5 each or NOK 158.4m ($15.9m) in total.
This slice is now worth $17.5m based on the share price on Tuesday.
BW Group’s ownership has now slipped beneath 50%, dropping to 49.8% from 55.8%.
The Singapore group had 58% when it merged its Epic Gas operation with Lauritzen Kosan in 2021. Lauritzen took a 26% stake.
The 6% chunk of BWEK can now be added to the 25.15% still held by subsidiary J Lauritzen Invest.
J Lauritzen chief executive Kristian Morch told TradeWinds: "We believe BWEK represents deep value and is trading at a significant discount to book value and NAV."
“So when there was an opportunity to buy at a further discount to the market then we felt it was a good opportunity for us to buy,” he added.
In November, the Danish company cashed in on record vehicle shipping markets by offloading its 5.69% stake in Gram Car Carriers.
Lauritzen had been part of a group of investors that helped Gram with a private placement to list in Oslo in January, putting in $10m.
Gram had pulled an initial public offering in 2021.
Offshore wind move
The sale of Lauritzen’s shares was carried out at NOK 162 each, bringing in NOK 265m.
Earlier in November, Lauritzen revealed a move into the offshore wind shipping sector as it deepened its relationship with Singapore’s BW Group.
The group took a minority stake in BW and Swire Pacific-backed wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) owner Cadeler, also listed in Oslo.
Lauritzen has been reorganising itself as a maritime investment holding company this year under new chief executive Kristian Morch, who told TradeWinds the Cadeler investment was in its “sweet spot” range of between $10m and $20m.
The Danish company has $400m of maritime investments under management.
There is also a stake in BW’s product tanker operation Hafnia.
Other investments include product tanker owner Dee4 Capital, shipping investor Navigare Capital Partners and floatel company Prosafe.
