Editor’s selection: Biggest S&P deal ever, Economou targets Performance and Procopiou attacks EU sanctions

TOP STORY

John Fredriksen’s Frontline has been tipped to hit a market capitalisation of $6bn after pulling off the largest tanker sale-and-purchase transaction ever. The Oslo-listed group struck a deal to acquire 24 modern VLCCs from Belgium’s Euronav for $2.35bn on Monday. The agreement dwarfed previous tanker transactions. French shipbroker BRS told TradeWinds: “When excluding mergers, we believe that this is the most expensive tanker S&P deal ever done. Essentially, nothing comes close,” the Paris shop said.

IN THE NEWS

Economou targets Performance | Greek shipowner George Economou is bidding to take over compatriot tanker company Performance Shipping after taking a stake in August. The TMS Group supremo was highly critical of the US-listed firm’s current management when he became an investor.

LPG to go private | BW Epic Kosan shareholders J Lauritzen and Nicholas Lykiardopulo have struck a deal to take the Singapore LPG carrier owner private. The pair have formed a new company called Web Holding to launch an offer valuing the BW Group-controlled operation at $349m.

Here to stay | Latsis company Latsco (London) believes changes to tanker trades caused by the Ukraine war could be here to stay. The UK-based chartering arm of Greece’s Latsco Shipping said that the banning of Russian oil imports by the European Union and the price cap allowing sales elsewhere “unintentionally gave tanker operators a positive thrust to the commercial activities of their vessels and created changes in the oil trade that may become the new norm”.

Braemar fills S&P gap | UK shipbroker Braemar has filled the gap at the top of its sale-and-purchase operations with two promotions. David Holland and Dimitris Kyrtsos have been named global co-heads of the S&P desk following the departure of the long-serving Sebastian Davenport-Thomas as part of an internal restructuring on 21 September.

Heavyweight joins Hafnia | BW Group product tanker giant Hafnia is adding a shipping heavyweight to its board. Su Yin Anand, former head of shipping at Australian charterer and miner South32, has been nominated as a director at a special general meeting to be held on 6 November. She will replace Ouma Sananikone, who has indicated her intention to step down after the meeting.

Awkward | “I’ve never heard of them.” That was International Seaways chief executive Lois Zabrocky’s initial response after finding herself in an awkward spot on a crude tanker panel at Capital Link’s 15th annual maritime forum in New York on Tuesday. Click here to read.

IN-DEPTH

European policymaking came in for a hefty dose of criticism from Greek, Italian and Cypriot shipowners at the Maritime Cyprus conference in Limassol on Monday. Known critics of consensus shipping views, primarily Greek owner George Procopiou, had strong words to say about the European Union’s sanctions and environmental policies.

COMMENT

At the start of the fourth quarter of 2022, spot LNG carrier rates were closing in on levels of about $500,000 per day in a market squeezed for tonnage. Fast forward 12 months, and European gas storage has already filled to its required levels ahead of the November deadline, and new land and floating storage and regasification unit-based regasification capacity has been or is being put in place in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Greece and Poland to boost Europe’s ability to import LNG this winter, reports Lucy Hine.

INTERVIEW

Klaveness Digital boss Aleksander Stensby has spotted signs of what he called “digital fatigue” as the shipping sector is faced with a raft of optimisation platforms. And the chief executive of the Torvald Klaveness group’s supply chain technology company believes the focus needs to be placed on value and results rather than carrying out digitalisation projects just for the sake of it.

AND FINALLY...

The Norwegian academic who has won this year’s Onassis Prize for shipping hopes the award will inspire a new generation of talented women. Professor Siri Pettersen Strandenes of the Norwegian School of Economics was honoured by a panel of academics for her substantial body of work, which includes research into maritime freight rates and the impact of environmental regulations on shipping.