The launch of John Fredriksen’s new investment platform is in no way a sign that Norway’s biggest shipowner is set to turn away from shipping or energy as he plans his succession, according to the boss of the family holding company, Seatankers.
Aeternum Capital, led by former Odin Capital director Vegard Soraunet, formally kicked off at the end of January with a slate of deals and dealmakers from outside Fredriksen’s core sectors.
“It is business as usual,” Seatankers chief executive Tor Andre Svelland said. “We have been doing other investments for decades and this is just a new way of organising them. I have been closely involved in Aeternum, together with Kathrine [Astrup Fredriksen] and John, and Vegard is literally doing exactly what he did at Odin for 15 years.”
Svelland said the Fredriksen group remains bullish on shipping and commodities.
“Shipping looks really good for many years ahead,” he said. “You see that crude oil is strong despite the Covid lockdown, there is strong demand for copper, for iron ore. In general, the supply-demand equation is very tempting in commodities.”
But Aeternum’s focus will be elsewhere, on “turnaround cases” in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
“And occasionally in Oslo,” Svelland said. “In retail, technology and other sectors. Everything outside shipping and energy.”
Watchers outside of the Fredriksen group see the retail and tech-orientated list of directors at Aeternum as a sign of Fredriksen’s continued firm hand on the wheel in steering his core areas.
“I think this is a statement that he will continue to be the active decision maker for years to come,” Lorentzen & Stemoco shipbrokerage boss Christian Andersen said. “As long as he remains as sharp as he is.”
Andersen is one of several former chief executives from the Fredriksen sphere who populate top management positions in Norway. He ran VLGC owner Avance Gas from 2007 until an abrupt departure in 2019.
“John isn’t really a guy who puts his decisions in the hands of other people,” Andersen said. “In all his shipping companies, he remains very hands-on. Whenever there is a decision to be made, he makes it.”
Aeternum was announced last autumn, but it has now formally taken shape with a six-member slate of investment advisors that includes former Nordea top investment banker Annika Sigfrid, former Ikea chief executive Anders Moberg and several names from information technology and biotech who enjoy a high profile in Scandinavia.
Notably, none are from shipping, energy or maritime. But that is no sign that the Fredriksen investment portfolio will be backing away from those sectors.
“The Fredriksen family doesn’t need any more advice in shipping than it already has,” Andersen said. “Even when John steps down from an active role, the family will be able to find the resources it needs for shipping investments without recruiting outsiders.”
