Bunker hedging company Global Risk Management (GRM) is putting the finishing touches to a new leadership team and strategy with the appointment of banker Kenneth Steengaard as chairman.
Steengaard will replace Keld Demant, who has been chairman since 2017. During that period, GRM, which is part of Danish tanker tycoon Torben Ostergaard-Nielsen’s United Shipping & Trading Co (USTC) group, has grown strongly.
GRM said: “The time has now come to pass on the torch to a chairman with a very strong skillset within the financial industry to help take the company to the next level.”
The company is about to launch a strategy putting “a strong focus on developing the best financial hedging programmes available and ensuring that customers are always front and centre of every decision made”.
Steengaard, who has previously held senior commodities, derivatives and foreign exchange roles at Nordea Bank, was brought onto GRM’s board last year with the intention of making him chairman.
He said: “GRM is a company with great potential. The global pandemic and volatile energy prices have only increased the need for our products and services, and I look forward to helping the company capitalise on that opportunity.”
Demant said that after building the firm into a strong player in the international energy hedging market, “The timing for me to hand over the reins is perfect, as GRM is now set up to pursue further growth.”
USTC is a global group with a turnover of $11bn through the ownership of Uni-Tankers and a worldwide marine fuel supply network. It also encompasses the Bunker Holding group of companies, which is represented by 66 offices in 33 countries.
Last year, Ostergaard-Nielsen secured the future of his empire by bringing in his daughters, Nina Ostergaard Borris and Mia Ostergaard Nielsen, as co-owners of Middelfart-based USTC.
They have taken one-third stakes in parent company Selfinvest Family Office, which reported record net profit of DKK 839m ($126m) in the 12 months to 30 April 2020.
