Hafnia Tankers is set to merge with BW Tankers in one of the biggest deals in an active year of consolidation within shipping.
Hafnia Tankers chief executive Mikael Skov will lead the combined $2bn company which will boast an 86 ship fleet.
Shareholders in Hafnia will get 2.9 shares in BW for each Hafnia shares should investors vote in favour of the combination in Malmo on 10 January.
"The combined company will have an attractive and high quality fleet active across all relevant segments, and the combined company will be one of the largest pure-play product tanker business in the world," Hafnia said in a statement.
In August, TradeWinds reported the two sides were negotiating a merger.
The talks came a month after BW took a 43% stake in Hafnia, acquiring shares traded on Oslo over-the-counter markets previously held by Blackstone, Tufton Oceanic and Hartmann.
Late last year, Hafnia said it was exploring a merger in order to secure a place in New York equity markets.
BW has a history of mergers and acquisitions, with its takeover of Bergesen and combining its VLCC fleet with New York-listed DHT Holdings among its notable transactions.
In the VLGC sector, Oslo-listed BW LPG bought rival Aurora, while BW is understood to have divested it’s chemical tankers to Idan Ofer in preparation for the Hafnia deal.
Hafnia was also widely seen as a merger and acquisition candidate to bring greater liquidity to investors following an over the counter listing in Oslo which was executed alongside its own takeover of Lauritzen Tankers.
If approved, the new company will have management headquartered in Copenhagen and technical departments in Singapore, with chartering teams in both cities, plus Houston.
BW's chief financial officer Perry Van Echtelt will stay on in that role, while Andreas Sohmen-Pao will serve as chairman of the board of directors, as he does with other BW companies.
The new company will remain on over-the-counter markets for the time being, but is aiming or a listing on a "renowned stock exchange."
BW has been looking to list its product tanker fleet for several years, but previous efforts have been aborted.
BW has two public companies listed in Oslo in addition to its leading stake in DHT.
Some have also suggested BW’s LNG fleet to be an IPO candidate in the future.
