Norwegian tycoon Arne Fredly is not about to endear himself to fellow shipowners, following comments that up to 80% of listed shipping companies are "pure fraud".
In a series of interviews with Norwegian financial daily Finansavisen in the new year, the prime mover behind Oslo-listed VLCC company Hunter Group said investing in the sector had been a "sad story".
This was mostly because 60% to 80% of listed shipping companies are "pure fraud", the newspaper cited him as saying.
Fredly said firms take money, charge management fees and then make stupid decisions so that the money just disappears.
Blogging and banks
He also claimed shares of companies listed in Oslo would be 80% lower without paid commentary from an unnamed German blogger.
And he hinted at a sale of niche Norwegian shipping financier Pareto Bank to Sweden's Swedbank.
Fredly, the second-biggest shareholder in Pareto Bank, said it should be owned by a bigger player.
Higher risk-weighting for the lender has put the brakes on larger dividends in the short term, he told Finansavisen.
Analyst Vegard Toverud at sister operation Pareto Securities told the newspaper that the change in risk-weighting is temporary. He believes a possible sale of the bank could be advantageous, however.
Toverud also doubts whether shareholders are willing to sell at price levels quoted. The stock has risen 2.8% in the past 12 months.
This is not the first time Fredly has been outspoken in recent months.
Outspoken investor
In November, he said Hunter Group's tankers outperformed those of its peers in the third quarter of 2020, but the figures could have been even better.
He said other shareholders persuaded the company to shift its chartering strategy.
"We had set up a concrete plan, but were not able to fully implement it as we were disturbed by people around us and got a little greedy," he told Finansavisen.
"In that respect we were paid a little too poorly from what we aimed to achieve."
Pareto Bank saw loan losses fall during the third quarter as it remained resistant to Covid-19 pandemic effects.
It said write-downs and losses amounted to NOK 6.2m ($660,000) in the period, compared with NOK 9.1m in the second quarter.
The niche finance house described this level as "moderate" and not related to Covid-19.
TradeWinds' sister newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv has described Fredly as perhaps best known for his significant collection of expensive luxury cars and for his address in Monaco.
Through his AF Capital Management, he is also a shareholder in Helgeland Sparebank, Jaeren Sparebank and Saga Tankers.
Last winter he told Finansavisen: "Pareto Bank should become a dividend company. I want a 50% dividend from the profit in 2019. From 2020 onwards, I want the bank to pay out 80% of the profit in dividends."
The lender then agreed to pay 50% for 2019, but the pandemic put these plans on hold.
Pareto Bank told TradeWinds that as it is listed in Oslo and on the Euronext exchange, it cannot comment on dividends until the fourth quarter results have been made public on 28 January.
The lender added: "We do not comment on ownership."
