Andreas Sohmen-Pao’s BW Group has retained DNB Markets, Fearnley Securities and Pareto Securities for a share block sale in Oslo-listed Hafnia.
BW is considering selling up to 26m shares in the product tanker owner, which is equal to 5.1% of the outstanding shares.
The Hafnia shares closed at NOK 77.05 yesterday, which means the sale could fetch up to NOK 2bn ($190m).
The Hafnia stock has risen 9.8% so far this year. The market capitalisation is NOK 39.3bn.
BW remains committed to being the leading long-term shareholder in the company and is a strong believer in the product tanker market, according to an Oslo Stock Exchange filing.
“The purpose of the offering from the seller’s perspective is to enhance the trading liquidity in the company’s shares in support of its planned dual listing in the US, and to rebalance the seller’s portfolio of 18 group companies.”
BW has done this in other of its portfolio companies before, and it allows it to support the company’s shares when necessary.
BW will receive the net proceeds from the block sale.
Sohmen Pao is the chairman of Hafnia’s board of directors.
The price and the final number of shares in the block sale will be determined through an accelerated book-building process denominated in Norwegian kroner.
The book-building period started on Tuesday and will close no later than Wednesday at 08:00 CET.
The offering is expected to be priced and allocated before 09:00 CET today.
BW currently owns around 246.1m shares in Hafnia, which is equal to about 48.23% of the company.
DHT slice put up for sale
Earlier in March, BW signalled its intention to sell some of its holding in US-listed VLCC owner DHT Holdings.
A US Securities and Exchange Commission filing by DHT revealed BW listed 7.48m shares for disposal.
This 4.65% slice is worth $82.9m, the filing said.
BW Group acquired the shares in 2017 when DHT bought its VLCC fleet, consisting of nine vessels and two newbuildings, in a stock deal.
The Singapore owner held 25.8m shares in DHT, equivalent to 16%, before the latest contemplated sale.
BW will hold 18.3m shares, equivalent to an 11% holding if it goes through.
In October, Denmark’s J Lauritzen banked a huge profit from offloading all its shares in Hafnia.
The NOK 324m block sale represented the investor’s entire holding of about 2%.
The owner of Lauritzen Bulkers bought most of the shares in 2021 and had seen the price “appreciate significantly”, the company told TradeWinds.
Hafnia has been making big profits in strong clean carrier markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
