Shipping tycoon John Fredriksen has consolidated his position as easily Norway’s richest person, but cruise ship owner Torstein Haagen has closed the gap.
Kapital magazine has released its annual survey of the seriously wealthy in the Scandinavian country, producing a top 100.
It is a list featuring a sizeable shipping contingent, as markets thrive and share prices rise.
Kapital has calculated that Fredriksen is now worth NOK 253bn ($24.2bn), up NOK 48bn from last September.
This is based on the share prices of his listed companies such as Frontline, Golden Ocean, Avance Gas and Flex LNG, the value of his newbuilding orderbook and other investments and property.
His investment in farming giant Mowi is now worth NOK 12bn, for example.
Kapital noted everything the shipowner touches seems to turn to gold.
“And apparently he has no plans to give up soon,” the magazine said.
The 80-year-old has businesses in Norway, is a Cypriot citizen and lives in the UK, meaning calculations of his wealth vary.
In May, the UK’s Sunday Times found Fredriksen had been overtaken by Eastern Pacific Shipping’s Idan Ofer as the UK’s richest shipowner.
Adding billions
Ofer’s fortune increased by almost £7bn ($8.9bn) to £14.96bn, making him the sixth-wealthiest person in the UK.
Fredriksen’s wealth was up £4.56bn to £12.87bn, pushing him up to ninth from 19th place.
Meanwhile, in April, Forbes ranked the husband and wife team behind MSC Group as shipping’s richest billionaires.
Gianluigi Aponte and Rafaela Aponte-Diamant were worth $33.1bn each through their 50% holdings in the Swiss-based container and cruise ship giant.
They ranked joint 48th in Forbes’ 2024 list of the top 200 billionaires worldwide, and their combined wealth would be enough to put them in 23rd place.
Fredriksen ranked at No 108. He was worth $16.9bn at that time.
Cruising up the list
Returning to the Kapital list, Torstein Hagen, owner of Viking Cruises, has leapt into second place.
The company carried out a New York IPO in May, and had another great year, the magazine said.
Viking’s valuation increased to more than $15bn after the float.
Hagen now has a fortune of NOK 92bn, up NOK 57.6bn, making him the biggest climber on the list in percentage terms.
Oil, gas and shipping magnate Kjell Inge Rokke ranks eighth with NOK 35.5bn, down NOK 2.9bn from last year.
The Swiss resident’s Aker group lost 7% in value from 2023.
Rokke has shipping interests through offshore players Solstad Offshore and AMSC.
Tied in fifteenth
In joint fifteenth place are Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen and Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, owners of Awilhelmsen, and Stolt-Nielsen chairman Niels Stolt-Nielsen.
The Wilhelmsens are investors in cruise ship giant Royal Caribbean, whose value has risen 70% in a year.
Their fortunes have grown NOK 3.9bn each.
Tanker owner Stolt-Nielsen, meanwhile, saw his worth increase NOK 6.75bn, as the group’s stock price rose 6%.
Offshore and bulker investor Kristian Sveaas secured the 22nd spot, followed by offshore competitor Kristian Siem at 25th, Color Group leader Nils Olav Sunde at 26th and shipowner Arne Blystad at 29th.
Other shipowners, including Fred Olsen, Leif Hoegh and Morten Hoegh, are ranked in the 30s.
