US investment fund Fidelity Investments has revealed a doubling of its holding in Belgian tanker owner Euronav to become the largest outside investor.
The New York and Brussels-listed VLCC and suezmax owner said it had received a notification from the Boston company's FMR LLC arm on 28 September that it now owns 11.9m shares, or 5.41% of the company.
Fidelity was listed with 2.47% previously.
The new holding makes it the largest shareholder, if Euronav's cache of treasury shares equalling 7.04% are excluded.
The tanker owner has been busy buying back its own stock in recent months as part of a return of capital to investors.
Changing ownership
Euronav was trading up 0.67% at €7.51 on Wednesday morning, valuing Fidelity's stake at €89.37m ($105m).
M&G Investment Management has 5.2%, while according to earlier filings, Belgian shipowner Marc Saverys has a 5% stake.
Chateauban, an investor in Belgian bulker and ro-ro player Cobelfret, sold its holding of more than 5% earlier this year.
Also earlier this year, KKR-backed London hedge fund Marshall Wace acquired a 5.09% stake in Euronav.
Euronav told TradeWinds that the Fidelity deal showed strong institutional support for its shares, "as evidenced by relative performance versus peers this year and a free float of around 95%".
Fidelity is known to have had substantial holdings in DHT Holdings, Scorpio Tankers, Royal Caribbean Group, GasLog Partners, MPC Container Ships and GoodBulk in recent years.
The fund is one of the largest asset managers in the world with $3.3trn in assets under management.
Fidelity is one of the world's largest asset managers, with a $3.3bn portfolio. It is run by billionaire chief executive Abigail Johnson, whose family owns the company.
TradeWinds has previously reported that the fund is exactly the type of "buy and hold" investor shipowners have struggled to attract in recent years that have seen the sector overrun by hedge funds and retail investors.
Buyback goes on
Earlier this month, Euronav said it had spent €9.37m ($11.2m) on its own stock through purchases on the Euronext and New York exchanges.
The tanker owner has now spent about $91m since shareholders approved the repurchase scheme this year.
Euronav said the deals are part of a commitment to return $25m to investors by the end of the third quarter.
In total, the company will return $200m to shareholders, derived from bumper second quarter profit — $100m in dividends and $100m in buybacks.
Euronav's third quarter results are due on 5 November.
The shipowner has $1.1bn of liquidity at hand and has authorisation to repurchase up to 10% of its shares.
