Euronav chief executive Hugo De Stoop has claimed the Saverys family may be regretting its move to take its shipping company Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) private.
The bulker and container ship operation left the Brussels Euronext exchange in 2015.
Now major Euronav shareholder CMB is battling to oust the tanker owner’s supervisory board and turn the company towards decarbonisation and diversification.
Euronav chief executive De Stoop told investors on a conference call that the family has been vague on its strategy for his company.
But he said he believes the intention is to extract as much value from Euronav’s tanker business as quickly as possible and then reinvest in container ships and bulk carriers.
“It happens to be the kind of ships owned by their private company, and a company they privatised six or seven years ago,” the CEO added.
“So maybe that’s a regret that they have, because when you have a clear ambition for growth you probably need a public vehicle,” De Stoop told the call.
He argues that CMB’s strategy would increase debt and decrease dividends.
“This is a perfectly fine strategy for a private company. To my mind, it is not a strategy that will work for a public company,” De Stoop added.
Management wants to keep Euronav as a pure-play company focused on crude tankers.
CMB said at the time it was delisting CMB that its focus would be on consolidation and specialisation in its sectors and to better compete with US and Asian rivals.
It also argued it would have more flexibility to source alternative kinds of finance.
The family went on to sell off Euronav shares between 2019 and 2021 and left the board.
De Stoop baffled
“The explanation we were being given was very simple,” said De Stoop.
The Saverys wanted to focus on CMB and clean shipping spin-off CMB.Tech, he added.
“They thought at that time it was difficult if not incompatible to have board representation in a crude oil transportation company,” the CEO said.
The family only started rebuilding its stake, at a cost of $190m, after tycoon John Fredriksen bought a chunk of Euronav.
The Saverys clan then blocked a merger with Fredriksen’s Frontline.
“To this date, we’re not sure why they did that. Why would you spend so much money to block a transaction that is classified by most, if not all other stakeholders, as being value-creative?” De Stoop told the call.
