The Hoegh family made a cool billion trimming its stake in Hoegh Autoliners.
Leif Hoegh & Co — the holding company backed by cousins Morten and Leif Hoegh — sold 11.5m shares in the eponymous, Oslo-listed car carrier owner at NOK 97 ($9.16) per share totalling NOK 1.1bn.
Hoegh Autoliners made the disclosure in a stock exchange filing late on Tuesday, the same day the transaction was made.
It said the shares were just over 6% of all the stock.
Following the sale, Leif Hoegh & Co controls 67.8m Hoegh Autoliners shares and remains the company’s top shareholder.
This is ahead of Norwegian government pension fund Folketrygdfondet.
A filing showed Folketrygdfondet bought 2.05m shares on Wednesday, which could have cost NOK 200m ($18.9m).
The pension fund has 10.6m Hoegh Autoliners shares after the deal.
This corresponds to 5.6% of the shares in the company.
On Tuesday, Hoegh Autoliners’ shares closed at NOK 101.50 and in early trading on Wednesday fell a krone to NOK 100.50.
Its shares reached a five-year high on 15 February, hitting NOK 139.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hoegh Autoliners announced it was selling the 6,000-ceu Hoegh Chiba (built 2006) for $61m and that it was buying the 6,500-ceu Hoegh Jeddah (built 2014) for $43.2m.
Earlier in the month it reported a $197m profit for the fourth quarter, as falling volumes were offset by higher rates.
It also said it would begin paying out all cash left over after amortisation of debt facilities, capital expenditures and payable taxes as dividends.
Hoegh Autoliners and other car carrier owners are expecting another strong year in 2024, amid rising demand as China begins exporting more electric vehicles.
