London shipbroker Affinity (Shipping) has continued its investments in shipowning in a fresh deal with serial entrepreneur Tor Olav Troim.
The broker’s 2023 accounts filed to the UK’s Companies House reveals subsidiary Affinity Shipholdings II has 1.875m shares in Troim’s VLCC newbuilding venture Andes Shipping.
Affinity, led by chief executive Richard Fulford-Smith, said this equates to a 24.19% stake in the unlisted Bermuda-registered operation.
Andes has ordered four dual-fuel VLCCs for delivery between September 2026 and November 2027, the broker added.
Affinity Shipholdings II has net assets of £3m ($3.9m), the accounts show. It did not trade in 2023.
TradeWinds reported in February that Norwegian owner Troim was backing the VLCC newbuilding trend by doubling up on the original pair of vessels contracted in China last year for his latest fledgling venture, Andes Shipping.
Troim added two more VLCCs at New Times Shipbuilding in China, where he originally set aside the first two berths for Andes’ initial vessels.
While the first two VLCCs, which were ordered for the account of Troim’s private company Magni Partners, are believed to be LNG dual-fuel 320,000-dwt vessels, Troim told TradeWinds “we have options to go both ways” on the latest newbuildings.
Finansavisen priced the newbuildings at between $116m and $117m each.
An additional $19m premium needs to be added if the ships are to be built as LNG dual-fuel.
Andes is believed to be sitting on another pair of optional slots for VLCCs at the Chinese yard.
Himalaya Shipping stake falls
Troim, a former John Fredriksen lieutenant, also controls 2020 Bulkers and Himalaya Shipping, which has 12 modern newcastlemaxes.
Affinity Shipholdings I has a 7.71% stake in Himalaya, down from 10.04% in 2022, although the number of shares it owns has risen to 3.38m from 3.23m in 2022.
Himalaya added a New York listing to its Oslo one in 2023.
Magni Partners is the main shareholder of Andes, with “good friends and family” also engaged with the project, he has said.
These are believed to include other Fredriksen alumni such as Jens Martin Jensen and Gunnar Eliassen.
