The process of merging MOL Nordic Tankers (MOL NT) into MOL Chemical Tankers (MOL CT) has begun with the exit of two top executives.
Per Sylvester Jensen and Henriette Schutze, MOL NT's chief executive and chief financial officer, have left the company, a release said on Wednesday.
MOL CT's chief executive Tsuneo Watanabe will head up both companies with immediate effect.
MOL CT acquired Nordic Tankers in January from private-equity firm Triton, which had owned the company since 2012. The takeover is expected to be completed next year.
When the merger was announced, the companies stressed that no staff would be leaving as a result of the deal.
The process so far
In the meantime, Annette Hasenberg has stepped in as executive vice-president at MOL NT.
She will be supported by commercial senior vice-presidents Howard Powers, Anders Hannested and Niels Mathiesen.
“The MOL NT business and trade lanes are of high value and a very important part of our core business and ambitious plans to grow MOL CT into being one of the most attractive and leading chemical tanker companies worldwide," said Tsuneo Watanabe, chief executive of MOL CT.
MOL NT will keep its four offices open in Copenhagen, Stamford, Houston and Bogota and will be headquartered in Singapore once the merger has been completed.
The combined MOL Chemical and Nordic Tankers will boast a fleet of 75 vessels.
Chemical market consolidation
Within 24 hours of the Nordic Tankers deal being announced in January, it emerged that Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping had closed a transaction to buy 13 chemical tankers from BW Group.
Speaking to TradeWinds at the time, Per Sylvester Jensen said the merger of Nordic Tankers into MOL CT was unlikely to be the end of the consolidation story in the chemical market.
“There are a number of players who do not have a global reach to achieve the economies of scale,” he said.
