Privately-owned Arne Blystad AS has hired ABN Amro banker Geir Nedrelo as its new chief financial officer.
The move is part of preparations for a main-board Oslo stock-listing at Blystad-controlled OHT, the former Offshore Heavy Transport. Until now, Tom Jebsen has been serving as CFO at both OHT and the Oslo shipowner and investor's private Arne Blystad AS.
"I am coming back to Blystad where I started my career about 20 years ago," Nedrelo told TradeWinds. "I start working with Arne on Monday."
Nedrelo has spent the last five years at ABN Amro Bank, first as head of transport and logistics for the Nordic countries and more recently as country executive for Norway as well.
He jumps right into his new job with no gardening leave, although he had backed away in the last two months from transactional banking business.
Nedrelo's predecessor Jebsen has served as Blystad's CFO for some 15 years after leaving a similar position at John Fredriksen's Frontline.
Recently, Jebsen has been in a dual role at the Blystad Group and at wind energy player OHT, where Blystad was among the original investors and remains majority shareholder through his Songa Corp.
But as OHT prepares to move from Oslo's Euronext Growth, or Merkur Market, to a full Oslo Stock Exchange listing later this year, that was seen as a potential conflict.
"They thought it was prudent from a governance perspective to divide the roles now that OHT is a stock-listed company," said Nedrelo.
Nedrelo's predecessor, Jebsen, told TradeWinds separately that OHT is poised for growth, so the group decided to split his role.
"By 2024 over 90% of OHT's business will be transportation and installation for the renewables energy industry. It's a big job saving the planet," he said.
At ABN Amro, Nedrelo has been in charge of one of Norway's biggest lending portfolios. He singled out LNG financing deals as a major part of a portfolio that includes corporate facilities and private placements, as well as vessel mortgages and newbuilding finance.
In moving to the borrower's side of the table, Nedrelo will oversee the finances of Blystad's portfolio not just in shipping but also in real estate and finance.
It is not clear which of those segments is currently the biggest.
Blystad has grown significantly in real estate in recent years, while the Songa tanker fleet has not, and has seen fluctuating vessel values with a mainly declining trend until lately.
Blystad's shipowning holdings include the chemical and product tankers controlled by his Songa Chemical, plus aframax crude carriers and investments in containerships.
Nedrelo is reluctant to speculate on the precise weighting of his new employer's portfolio or its expected development.
"I know what my duties will be but I will be finding out more about the outlines of group strategy," he said.
In addition to his banking roles, Nedrelo previously served as vice president of finance at Awilhelmsen, according to LinkedIn.
He also spent four years as a financial controller at Arne Blystad AS and nine months as a finance manager at Songa Shipholding.
