Norwegian investor Jakob Hatteland is boosting his stake in Oslo-listed bulker owner Belships.
His Hatteland Group is buying 5m shares from major shareholder Frode Teigenat a price of NOK 6 ($0.60) per share.
The deal takes his total holding in the Norwegian shipowner to 11m shares, or 5.18%.
The move comes after TradeWinds reported that Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding had taken a 7% stake in Belships as part payment for a newbuilding.
The move made the yard group the fourth biggest shareholder in the bulker owner.
Belships’ chief executive Lars Christian Skarsgaard said it is good for his company to broaden its shareholder base.
“We know the Hatteland Group as a very strong and knowledgeable shareholder that is very good to have onboard,” he told the Norwegian financial daily Finansavisen.
"It has been known that our main shareholder been open for reducing his relatively shareholding somewhat."
Skarsgaard stressed that Teigen’s companies Kontrari and Kontrazi still have a total of about 60% of the shares in Belships.
A merger in 2018 with Teigen’s Lighthouse Group doubled the Belships fleet. which now stands at 24 bulkers including newbuildings in the supramax and ultramax class.
As of Belships' last disclosure, Teigen controlled 62.8% of Belships through Kontrari and Kontrazi.
Norway's Wenaas Group is the second largest shareholder with an 8.5% holding, while former leading shareholder Sverre Jorgen Tidemand owns 8.2% through his company Sonata.
In May, TradeWinds reported that Elias Kulukundis had taken a stake of just under 5% in Belships as part payment for the sale of the 55,000-dwt bulker Sephora (built 2007).
He bought the stake in the Norwegian outfit through his company Prospero Marine. The Greek shipowner said at the time that he intended to buy more shares in Belships.
But Kulukundis appears to have sold out. By the end of last year, Prospero Marine was no longer among the 20 largest shareholders in Belships, a list that includes investors with just 0.13% of the company.
