Andreas Sohmen-Pao’s BW Group has added to its majority shareholding in VLGC shipowner BW LPG to continue a succession of purchases.
The privately owned group spent NOK 5.26m ($614,474) on 206,517 shares in BW LPG on the Oslo Stock Exchange at a price of NOK 25.47 each.
The transaction has raised BW Group’s shareholding in BW LPG to 67,481,128 shares, equivalent to 47.54% of the company.
"We are a long-term industrial investor and we believe in the value of BW LPG as a company and the opportunities in the LPG segment," a BW Group spokesperson told TradeWinds in December.
BW Group was a busy buyer of stock before Christmas and has now made two further additions this year.
BW LPG’s share price opened at NOK 26.23 on Thursday morning, but had fallen slightly to NOK 25.33 at 11:45am in Oslo.
Forecasts that BW LPG is set to return to profit in 2019 has done little to boost the company’s share price, which has declined by 36% since 31 October.
Before Christmas, Joakim Hannisdahl of Cleaves Securities said he expects BW LPG will post a profit during the fourth quarter of 2018, which would be the first profit seen in seven quarters.
Hannisdahl forecasts BW LPG will report a profit of $86m in 2019, with larger bottom line gains through until 2021. BW LPG's last profitable full year was in 2016.
