Norwegian investor Christen Sveaas has made another big offshore move by taking a major stake in domestic giant Solstad Offshore.
A stock exchange filing reveals that Sveaas’ Kistefos company bought 4m shares in the restructured Oslo-listed offshore support vessel player on Friday.
This gives the investment company a stake of 5.17%.
The slice is now worth NOK 138.8m ($14.1m) after the Solstad share price rocketed nearly 40% on Friday to NOK 34.70.
Another Norwegian tycoon, Kjell Inge Rokke, is the biggest shareholder at 24.84%, with DNB Markets second on 11.27%.
Kistefos now ranks third, narrowly ahead of lender SEB.
Sveaas already controls Swedish OSV owner Viking Supply Ships, as well as bulker operator Western Bulk.
In March, he became the second-biggest shareholder in Kristian Siem’s Siem Offshore with a stake of 33.32%, just behind Siem himself on 33.6%.
Sveaas bought his stake from Stoperigata Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norway’s Guarantee Institute for Export Credit.
Kistefos has been contacted for comment.
Consolidation on the cards?
It remains to be seen whether these investments are purely financial as offshore markets recover, or whether consolidation could be pursued.
Siem Offshore’s management are vocal supporters of more tie-ups between owners.
Solstad in its current form was created by merging Rem Offshore, Farstad Shipping and John Fredriksen’s Deep Sea Supply into the company five years ago to combat the OSV malaise.
Norwegian shipowner Arne Blystad this week strengthened ties with Kristian Siem through an increased investment in Siem Offshore.
A filing showed Blystad’s Songa Capital struck a deal to buy 10.9m shares in the offshore vessel owner, increasing its stake from 1.47% to 6%.
