Norwegian shipmanager OSM has quietly reorganised and consolidated its management under chief executive Finn Amund Norbye following the departure of his predecessor, Bjoern Sprotte.
But Norbye is not really a new top executive.
The veteran shipping boss has been staying out of the headlines while running OSM's holding company — Optimum Maritime Holdings (OMH) — in Arendal for some time, first as chief financial officer, then as chief executive.
Norbye saw Sprotte's departure in January as an occasion to consolidate leadership.
"We removed the management layer of CEO in the ship-management subsidiary so, for all practical purposes, I am now CEO of OSM," Norbye told TradeWinds.
"We had reorganised the business during the second half of 2020 in a way that makes my role more operational.
"There was more distance between OSM and OMH as holding company previously, but now it is not so relevant to make a distinction."
Besides shedding a layer of management, the reorganisation sees OSM centre on its Norwegian headquarters, where the heads of its global subsidiaries in Singapore and elsewhere will report.
Shipowner Bjorn Tore Larsen — OSM's founder — remains chairman of OMH. Norbye and chief commercial officer Tommy Olofsen will be joined in Arendal by a new chief financial officer and chief legal officer, who are in the process of being recruited.
Geir Sekkesaeter, the managing director of OSM Europe, is also based in Arendal, and Ole-Johan Haahjem is managing director in OSM’s new office in Bergen.
Kjell Ove Breivik, who was recently recruited as managing director of OSM Asia, is based in Singapore.
Key subsidiary OSM Crewing in Cyprus is headed by managing director Peter Burkal and OSM Brazil is run by Walker Lima.
The reorganisation comes at the end of a year of expansions and acquisitions that bring OSM's fleet under full technical management to some 250 ships, including tankers, bulkers, car carriers and offshore vessels. The total, including crewed ships, is now about 600.
The moves are the latest in a series of changes following the entrance of US equity fund player Oaktree Capital Management as shareholder.
In 2018, Oaktree bought a 49% share in OSM from founder Larsen, and holding company OMH was created as a platform for the new ownership structure.
In 2019, as Larsen stepped back from day-to-day operations to concentrate on his shipowning activities, OMH hired Sprotte to lead the shipmanagement wing and, more quietly, recruited Norbye first as chief financial officer and then chief executive at the holding company.
Norbye had previously served as chief executive of offshore owner Deep Sea Supply from 2005 to 2015. He then turned down an offer to lead Farstad Shipping before saying yes to a turnaround case as chief executive of offshore drilling company MHWirth.
In 2020, OSM took on management of several Norwegian fleets in rapid succession, acquiring the management arm of Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi in August and the John Fredriksen group's SeaTeam ship-management organisation in October. In between, the company picked up the smaller offshore fleet of GC Rieber.
Late last year, Sprotte gave notice that he would be leaving for a position at V.Ships in Hamburg.
