Ship manager OSM Thome is open to more merger-and-acquisition action to follow up on its massive consolidation move last year.
Private equity-backed OSM Maritime joined forces with Singapore’s Thome Ship Management to create a fleet of more than 1,000 ships under third-party management.
Finn Amund Norbye, chief executive of OSM Thome, told TradeWinds the group’s main focus is supporting existing customers and growing its business with them.
“Having said that, we are always looking for mergers and acquisitions that align with our vision and strategic goals,” he said.
Norbye sees its own big tie-up as exemplifying a commitment to scaling the business and enhancing services.
“We will continue to evaluate potential acquisitions and any future transaction will be carefully considered to ensure it adds value for our stakeholders,” the CEO said.
He believes technology and AI will become increasingly important in shipping and ship management.
“For a good, future development, we are open to possible M&As in such sectors to help us expand and grow,” Norbye added.
The CEO also sees more consolidation to come in the wider ship management sector.
“As regulatory framework becomes stricter and complexity increases, there is an increasing need for competence, scale and enhanced service capabilities, which the smaller players are lacking today. Thereby, I anticipate that smaller ship managers will look to partner up with bigger players,” he told TradeWinds.
He believes the sector is very fragmented, with a number of managers lacking the scale to independently address industry challenges.
And in addition, there are shipowners facing a similar situation and that are looking to outsource their ship management activities.
Complex to land
The CEO believes any ship manager or shipowner with less than 20 to 30 vessels under management could feature in M&A business.
But Norbye said bigger transactions are fewer and more complex to land.
“The merger between OSM and Thome was the largest merger in this business and was executed efficiently, and gave us an internal capability to conclude and successfully integrate,” he explained.
“Transformational mergers provide opportunities to improve company performance. Scale, access to talent and competence, stronger purchasing power, enhanced service offering and filling strategic gaps in an efficient manner are some of the…advantages,” Norbye added.
“For OSM Thome, our merger allowed us to optimise our operations, leverage complementary strengths and provide a more comprehensive suite of services to our customers,” he said.
But other issues are more important than expansion, the boss argued.
“Placing customers in the heart of what we do by delivering safe and quality operations is most important. Being a good employer for our seafarers and shore employees always takes priority,” Norbye said.
Decarbonisation, using new technology and addressing the shortage of skilled seafarers are also vital, he added.
