Something was in the air last year when John Fredriksen launched his Euronav takeover attempt.
“John Fredriksen has been in this market for 60 years … when he sees a certain dynamic starting to come into play he kind of smells it,” Frontline chief executive Lars Barstad said during TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Oslo at Nor-Shipping on Wednesday.
“He started smelling something last year.”
The Norwegian-born billionaire’s New York-listed tanker vehicle Frontline attempted to takeover fellow tanker-owning giant Euronav last April in a $4.2bn deal.
The swoop was ultimately unsuccessful, with the Belgian Saverys shipping dynasty accumulating enough Euronav shares to force Frontline to back off earlier this year.
But Fredriksen appears undaunted, disclosing a set of Euronav share purchases that brings his position in the company to nearly 28.5%, just shy of the 30% stake that would trigger a mandatory takeover offer.
At the forum, Barstad said the merger would be a positive “if it should happen”.
He also said the takeover attempt and Fredriksen’s stake in New York-listed International Seaways were positive indicators for the tanker market.
Fredriksen recently blasted International Seaways management as entrenched, shameless and self-interested in an attempt to oust the board and squash a poison pill provision — both of which failed.
Many observers expect tankers to head into a multi-year upcycle thanks to oil demand, trading pattern shifts and a low orderbook.
“If you are bullish on tankers, there are various avenues you can choose to get exposure to that,” Barstad said. “One is buying shares. One is buying ships. You can buy derivatives.
“Where do you get the cheapest access to this exposure? We know last year and the year before this was through the share pricing, because the shares were discounted quite heavily.”
