One of Avance Gas' earliest shareholders has ended its investment in the Oslo-listed company.
According to regulatory filings, Sungas Holdings was exploring the possibility of selling its entire 4.65% stake, which is about 3m shares, in the gas carrier owner.
Avance Gas said on Thursday morning that Sungas had completed the sale of all 3m shares at NOK 17.50 each, earning it NOK 52.5m ($5.51m).
Sungas was working with Arctic Securities on the sale. It was the second-biggest shareholder after John Fredriksen.
The company took 50% ownership of then-private Avance in 2010, after selling it three 2008-built VLGCs.
Avance went public in 2014, with Sungas and the company's other two largest shareholders — Stolt-Nielsen and Frontline — selling tranches of shares worth $175m, alongside $100m in new shares.
The Sungas holding stood at 8.5% of the company, or 8.5m shares, at the beginning of this year, but 2.5m shares were sold in mid-January for NOK 52 each.
Stolt-Nielsen sold out in January in a deal that netted the Norwegian company a profit of $10.8m.
"The holding in Avance no longer made sense for our long-term strategy," a spokeswoman for Stolt-Nielsen told TradeWinds at the time.
"Also, we were able to realise the investment at a good profit."
The company held 8.3% of Avance's stock before selling.
Fredriksen building stake
Meanwhile, John Fredriksen's Hemen Holdings has increased his ownership in Avance, buying more than 1m shares this year and bringing his leading stake to 14.89m shares, or 23% of the company.
On Wednesday, Avance shares closed at NOK 18.64, which was a slide of 4.2%.
The shares have plummeted by more than half year to date, falling from NOK 44.75 on 2 January and trading as high as NOK 58.40.
Sungas, controlled by Saudi investor Nasser Al-Rashid, is represented on the Avance Gas board by Francois Sunier.
After Avance was set up in 2007, Sungas was first to come in as an investor, followed by Fredriksen when he sold eight VLGC newbuildings to the company before it listed in Oslo.
Sungas and Stolt-Nielsen sold half their shares in the company in 2015.
