New York investor QVT Family Office has sold a substantial piece of its Okeanis Eco Tankers shareholding after a steady increase in value at the VLCC and suezmax owner.
The fund managed by Daniel Gold-led QVT Financial remains the second-largest shareholder in Okeanis.
In an announcement to the Oslo Stock Exchange late on Wednesday, Okeanis reported that QVT had sold 415,000 shares, or 1.26% of the company, for NOK 73.46m ($7.29m), reducing its holding to 6.39%. Alafouzos family interests have a majority stake in the public company they founded in 2018.
Pareto Securities acted as manager for the offering.
QVT sold at NOK 177 per share — a discount to the market price. The Okeanis share touched NOK 200 at one point in trading on Wednesday and stood at NOK 181 at Thursday’s open following the sale.
QVT has been contacted for comment.
“QVT has been with the company since our IPO in 2018 and we are happy with the long-term commitment and services to our board of directors, which will continue,” Okeanis chief financial officer Kostantinos Oikonomopoulos told TradeWinds.
Veteran shipping investor QVT has built up its shareholding over several years in transactions at reported levels ranging between NOK 40 and NOK 100. The appreciation of the share in US dollar terms has been less, however, because of currency fluctuations.
The share sale comes after recent strong statements by Okeanis and its chief operating officer, Aristidis Alafouzos, on the outlook for large tanker markets.
TradeWinds has reported on Alafouzos’ positive outlook for secondhand ship values as well as for long-term charter rates in suezmaxes and VLCCs, and his expectation that no meaningful deliveries of newbuildings can be expected for several years.
Oikonomopoulos reiterated the positive outlook in comments to TradeWinds.
“Market fundamentals for the crude tanker segment are very constructive going forward, thanks to an unprecedented combination of factors,” he said.
“In particular, the sector is favoured by the best supply fundamentals in more than 20 years, coupled with elevating tonne-mile demand on the back of trade rerouting, significant stock depletion and oil demand recovery.
“Consensus analysts are pricing in the aforementioned supply and demand dynamics and have set an average target price for Okeanis above NOK 250.
“We are very happy with our performance over the past year and believe firmly that the market would continue its upward trend for the medium term.”
