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‘Fish and ships’ tycoon turns 70

John Fredriksen worked hard all his life to become one of the most powerful shipowners in the world. Along the way he also invested in other businesses, not least fish farming. The legendary tycoon, who now ranks as one of the wealthiest men not just in Norway but the world, turned 70 over the weekend and is showing no signs of slowing down.

His twin daughters Cecilie and Kathrine, who stand to inherit the empire Fredriksen built up, have tried to get their father to take it a little easier and enjoy life while he can. “Life isn’t supposed to be a punishment, Pappa,” Cecilie has admonished her father, according to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) .

Fredriksen, however, doesn’t seem inclined to take his daughters’ advice. “My choice is either to continue to work and develop the companies, or sell out,” Fredriksen told DN during an interview at his offices in London. “The latter really isn’t an option. The alternative of having money in the bank at low interest rates isn’t very exciting. So I keep working and plan on leaving it to the next generation. Kathrine and Cecilie work in the group and have seats on the boards of the companies.”

Fredriksen has also contributed millions to Norway’s hospital specializing in cancer treatment and research, Radiumhospitalet , and hints that more investments loom. Parts of his huge fortune may be put into a foundation for medical research. “Something will be happening in that area,” he told DN, adding that his daughters will soon be taking part in a meeting about the project at the hospital. Another pet project has been the Vålerenga football club in Oslo, in the eastside area where he grew up. The club is in the midst of another economic crisis, and Fredriksen may pump more money into Vålerenga once again.

Fredriksen’s bank accounts at age 70 are impressive to say the least. They’re about to surpass NOK 25 billion (USD 4.2 billion). The money comes from dividends, the sale of collection agency Aktiv Kapital and shares in the German travel company Tui, along with some successful private investments.

Fredriksen calls it his “war fund,” which he thinks is “sensible” to have given the historical highs and lows in the shipping markets and business cycles. “It’s smart to sit with some cash when the markets fall and it’s possible to make some purchases again,” he told DN.

News broke late last week, coincidentally or not given Fredriksen’s looming birthday, that his personal fortune rose by the equivalent of NOK 4.5 billion again last year. The British newspaper Sunday Times has estimated it at NOK 92 billion (USD 15 billion), making Fredriksen the sixth-richest man in Great Britain. Financial news service Bloomberg estimates he’s the 50th richest man in the world. The man who started from scratch, with a father who was a welder and a mother who worked in a company canteen, has long held the largest private fortune of any other Norwegian although he’s known for battling Norwegian authorities and the government. He turned in his passport several years ago to legally become a Greek citizen based on Cyprus. His Norwegian companies pay millions of kroner in taxes every year, but Fredriksen himself went into a form of tax exile from Norway. He’s thus long been restricted as to how much time he can spend in Norway, and his main home is in London, after he famously bought one of the city’s most expensive properties, the Old Rectory, in the heart of Chelsea in 2001.

His shipping interests currently control 370 vessels and rigs, a fleet worth NOK 300 billion. They’re operated from London, Houston, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Stavanger, Limassol, Singapore and Hamilton, Bermuda. And then comes his Marine Harvest salmon operations and other interests. He told DN that he and his longtime right-hand-man Tor Olav Trøim are talking about how to share the workload, with Trøim concentrating on Seadrill, Golar LNG and Marine Harvest, and Fredriksen continuing to use most of his time on the shipping interests.

His daughters are getting more and more involved too. “These are big shoes to fill,” Kathrine Fredriksen told DN. “We have to do it in our way.” She and her sister Cecilie insisted that their father has not pressured them into taking over his businesses. “He’s said that we need to choose what’s right for us, and what makes us happy,” Kathrine said. They seem to thrive, though: “There is never a boring moment around Tor Olav or Pappa,” Kathrine said.

Asked what his worst investment was, Fredriksen said it had to be his purchase of shares in the German shipping and travel company Tui. “We still have assets there valued at USD 250 million, but we took big losses on the shares we sold last winter.” His purchase of six large tankers from the Greek shipowner Latsis in 1997 was another ill-fated investment.

Asked what his best investment was, Fredriksen said it was Seadrill, “and before that, Frontline, which is in a class of its own.” His purchase of the tanker fleet in the shipowning company Golden Ocean was also among his “most positive” investments, Fredriksen said.

He celebrated his 70th birthday back home in Norway, at the property where his daughters grew up with him and their mother on Oslo’s Bygdøy peninsula. Fredriksen’s wife Inger Astrup Fredriksen died of cancer six years ago. His 96-year-old father Gunnar, however,  joined the birthday party. “He has some problems with his legs but is otherwise in great shape,” Fredriksen told DN. “He still drives and takes care of himself at home in Eidsvoll.” Father and son also share interests in fishing and hunting, which Fredriksen still takes time to pursue.

newsinenglish.no/ Nina Berglund

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Shipping Titan John Fredriksen's Secret to Success

Shipping titan John Fredriksen's $11 billion fortune has soared while the tanker industry has been tanking. His secret offers a lesson for every industry

In the shipping industry John Fredriksen is known as the Viking King. The hard-nosed son of a shipyard welder who grew up on the wrong side of Oslo, Norway, Fredriksen got his start running cargoes of fish, became an oil trader in Beirut and made his first fortune in the early 1980s as what his biographer called “the Ayatollah’s lifeline”, moving Iranian crude during the Iran-Iraq war. His tankers were hit by Iraqi missiles three times. Since then Fredriksen has built the world’s biggest oil tanker fleet, operated by his public company, Frontline, and has amassed one of the world’s biggest fortunes—$11.3 billion at last count, making him the 75th richest person in the world. His most impressive feat, though, is still in the making. Shipping is cyclical, but there’s been no cycle like this one. Five years ago when the economy, and oil imports, were soaring, tankers were chartered for as much as $96,000 per day, and Fredriksen, earning his moniker, declared that the shipping business was the best it had been since the time of the Vikings. By last year lower demand and resurgent US oil production saw those same tankers renting for closer to $20,000. Fredriksen’s longtime right-hand man, Tor Olav Trøim, provided the historical update: Shipping hadn’t been this bad since Europe was gripped by the Black Death. “The market,” Fredriksen tells me, “has collapsed totally.” Yet Fredriksen’s fortune is up 180 percent in the past three years. The Viking King, it turns out, embraced two of the most classic rules of a cyclical business: He socked away cash during the good times and diversified mightily, buying assets on the cheap. So it’s no matter that the shipping business is in the toilet. Over the past decade Fredriksen has taken out more than $3 billion in dividends from Frontline and sister companies like Ship Finance International and Golden Ocean. He’s reinvested that cash in new companies like Marine Harvest, the world’s largest salmon farmer; Golar LNG, which ships liquefied natural gas; and Seadrill, which operates deepwater oil-and-gas drill ships. Seadrill is Fredriksen’s most wildly successful investment. He founded the company in 2005 and built it by acquiring established drillers and building dozens of new rigs, which now compete with the likes of Transocean to bore the deepest holes in the seas. The best rigs are leased out to oil companies for upwards of $600,000 per day. “There’s already a shortage of deepwater rigs,” says Fredriksen, pointing to increased drilling off Brazil, western Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. Seadrill’s shares now account for nearly half—$5 billion—of Fredriksen’s fortune and delivered nearly $400 million in dividends last year. And because nearly all his vehicles are publicly traded, Fredriksen has taken outside investors along for the ride. “You have to share with others and treat them fair,” he says. “It’s like investing with Warren Buffett,” fawns Trøim. Those investments look extra-prescient given Frontline’s struggles. Last year the company lost $530 million; shares collapsed by 85 percent on fears that the company would run out of cash to pay bondholders, let alone the $400 million it owes for new ships it pre-ordered in the good years. But even here Fredriksen is acting smart. In December Fredriksen announced that he would personally bail out Frontline, pledging $500 million of his own cash to cover losses. “It’s not something we wanted to do, but something we had to do,” says Fredriksen. A lot of his competitors didn’t have that option: Last November General Maritime, the tanker operator controlled by Peter Georgiopoulos, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Genmar, which had taken on too much debt in recent years to finance acquisitions, is now fighting with creditors over the terms of a restructuring. In contrast, Fredriksen’s backstop was just temporary. In December he broke Frontline in two. The new entity, called Frontline 2012, was spun off to hold the fleet’s prime assets—the newest ships—and most of the debt. While the old ships require $30,000 per day to break even—uneconomical given the current $20,000 rates—the new ships can operate for between $4,000 and $10,000. Enough to turn an operating profit and handle the debt. “It’s a strange thing,” says Fredriksen. “If you build today you have the lowest capital cost and the lowest operating cost.”

(This story appears in the 27 April, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here. )

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Billionaire John Fredriksen’s Battle at Sea

seriously, does anyone at all feel the slightest sympathy for this guy?

one of the most voracious of the speculators responsible for the overbuilding in the industry. I say let him be eaten by the others

btw, I thought the babe was a trophy wife a first but I guess it is his trophy daughter instead

Yeah but just look at that glorious red cravat!

matches the bloated red face

For a while he was the subject of a blog over his movements:

This even involve the Courts in Delaware for some reason.

PS> Google translate gets a little silly here. (Rokke is translated Smoke and trustee to bus driver etc) but it should be possible to get an understanding of the content

nobody here cares…why are you filling these threads with irrelevant posts?

How do you know that “nobody” cares??

Well it was pretty off topic…like usual.

I suspect that Kjell Inge is still the under-the-table beneficial owner of a significant portion of the US flag Seattle/Alaska fishing fleet. What do you hear about that around Aalesund?

He is not listed as a director in American Seafood: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8283194&privcapId=12074458 But how much shares he may hold is unknown to me.

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King of tankers John Fredriksen 'considering relocating his business to Cyprus'

07:51 - 03 April 2024

Norwegian-born Cypriot national shipowner John Fredriksen, the so-called "king of tankers" appears to be considering Cyprus as a potential ‘port’ for part or even the whole of his shipping empire.

More specifically, according to reports in the Norwegian press, John Fredriksen is said to be considering the possibility of transferring most or all of his businesses to the island, as a result of new tax rules introduced by the Norwegian government. The reports said Fredriksen has indicated he considers the new legislation making it impossible for him to implement his business strategy and planning.

Based on the same publications, Fredriksen has conveyed his dissatisfaction with the new tax requirements to the Government of Norway, leaving open the possibility that this dissatisfaction may even lead to the end of the activity of part or all of his businesses in the country and their transfer to Cyprus.

It is noted that John Fredriksen, with a fortune worth 13.5 billion dollars, is the world’s richest Cypriot since he has been a Cypriot citizen since 2006. Although he lives in London, a large part of his shipping business is based in Oslo.

It is worth pointing out that the mere possibility of him moving his business from Norway has caused strong concern in the Scandinavian country’s business community, especially the shipping community.

Indicative is the statement of the president of the Norwegian Shipowners Association, Harald Fotland, who sounded the alarm speaking to the Norwegian business publication Finansavisen.

"It would be a loss for the Norwegian shipping community if Fredriksen ends up moving his operations out of the country," Fotland is quoted as saying.

On the other hand, it is easy to see what a possible decision by John Fredriksen to transfer his companies to our island would mean for Cyprus and especially for the country’s shipping sector.

• John Fredriksen

The Norwegian-born shipowner John Fredriksen acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2006 and became the richest Cypriot, with his fortune today reaching 13.5 billion dollars.

He was born in Norway but lives in London and is considered to be the ‘king of tankers’.

Fredriksen is a self-made entrepreneur who first entered the oil business in the 1960s in Beirut.

He purchased his first tankers in the 1970s and provided crude oil to Iran in the 1980s.

Frederiksen is active in shipping, and energy (oil, gas and coal), is a major shareholder in the world's largest fish farming company, MOWI, and a shareholder in Norwegian Air.

His empire today includes oil tankers, dry cargoes, LNG carriers and deepwater drilling.

(Source: InBusinessNews)

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11 John Fredriksen, Fredriksen Group

The extensive holdings of 75-year-old john fredriksen include tanker company frontline, golden ocean group, ship finance international, flex lng, avance gas, rig owner seadrill, fish-farmer mowi, as well as seatankers management, the empire’s investment engine house.

• 13 Dec 2019
• Lloyd’s List

One of the last big personalities in shipping, the Norwegian-born billionaire is selling off stakes in companies and reducing his workload as he reorganises his considerable maritime assets for passing on to his twin daughters

EVERY year, there are rumours that one of the last big personalities in shipping is preparing his exit strategy. So there is much to read into 75-year-old John Fredriksen’s activities over 2019.

Cyprus’s richest citizen is selling off stakes in his companies and wants to reduce his workload, according to interviews Mr Fredriksen has given this year.

It is already well known that his 36-year-old twin daughters will not be taking over the day-to-day running of his shipping, offshore and fish-farming empire, and he wants to reorganise his remaining holdings and leave a self-sustaining legacy for them.

Norwegian-born Mr Fredriksen’s extensive holdings include tanker company Frontline, Golden Ocean Group, Ship Finance International, Flex LNG, Avance Gas, rig owner Seadrill, fish-farmer Mowi, as well as Seatankers Management, the empire’s investment engine house.

The entire fleet was valued at $13bn by mid-2019, according to VesselsValue, including 26 newbuilding orders worth $1.77bn. Mr Fredriksen’s net worth is estimated at $11.3bn by Forbes and $8.6bn by Bloomberg.

He famously works on gut feeling when making strategic decisions about shipping, knowing billions are at stake. This stands in contrast to an increasingly corporatised, digitalised culture, where accountants and numbers dictate company moves.

It is significant that Mr Fredriksen used 2019 to deepen ties with Trafigura, already a long-standing client.

The world’s second-largest independent oil trader formed a bunkering joint venture with Frontline and Golden Ocean ahead of the biggest shake-up for marine fuels in a generation. The regulatory change mandates lower-sulphur fuels used from January 2020.

Trafigura also took an 8.4% stake in Frontline, worth $128m, in August, in a ships-for-cash and shares deal. Frontline bought 10 suezmax tankers from Trafigura (and later declined options to purchase a further four). Mr Fredriksen retains his 42% stake in Frontline.

BW Group has also bought into the floating liquefied natural gas shipowning company, which listed in New York in mid-2019, supplementing the existing Oslo listing.

There have been internal manoeuvres of note as well. Marcus Hermansen was promoted to chief operating officer of Seatankers in October. Earlier this year saw the departure of Harald Thorstein, who previously managed the Fredriksen group of companies and knew where the proverbial bodies were buried.

Unconfirmed reports had Seatankers behind $500m in tanker orders placed in May at a Chinese shipyard, which, if true, were the first such orders made by the group since mid-2018.

Geopolitical instability in the Middle East has always worked in Mr Fredriksen’s favour, with his first fortune made decades ago, shipping Iranian oil during the Iran-Iraq war.

The shipping tycoon may see current tension and a long-anticipated market upturn as a good time to leave. For now, that gut decision has yet to be made.

Mr Fredriksen also appeared in the Top 100 in 2010 ,  2011 ,  2012 ,  2013 ,  2014 ,  2015 ,  2016 ,  2017  and 2018 .

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COLUMN | Boardroom battles: What is John Fredriksen’s end-game at Euronav? DOF directors channel Cher whilst Capricorn Energy loses its leadership and likely NewMed Energy’s deal [Offshore Accounts]

After the shocking injustice perpetrated by the cruel and arbitrary governments of Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea on the 26 unfortunate seafarers aboard the crude oil tanker Heroic Idun , we turn our eyes this week to boardroom battles in Europe wherein some rich and powerful people either resign from their jobs or face imminent firing.

We refer, of course, to a trio of battles going on in boardrooms in Belgium, Scotland and Norway.

Euronav – John Fredriksen and Frontline versus the Saverys family

As anyone who has not been living under a rock knows, Cypriot of Norwegian descent John Fredriksen, probably the most famous and richest ship owner in the world, has been attempting to take over merge with Belgian listed tanker owner Euronav since April last year.

Fredriksen controls a swathe of publicly listed shipping companies including Flex LNG, tanker owner Frontline, Ship Finance International, and bulk carrier owner Golden Ocean, as well as fish farming businesses. He previously controlled Seadrill before that drilling company's catastrophic double bankruptcy restructuring, but he still owns some rigs and construction vessels privately, and has a chunk of shares in listed driller Valaris.

The year 2021 was not a great one for the tanker industry, but in October 2021, Mr Fredriksen disclosed that he had bought a 5.5 per cent ownership interest in Euronav through a trust. On March 31 last year, Euronav disclosed its full year results, which showed a US$338 million loss, and a US$72 million loss for the final quarter of 2021. In 2021, Euronav's average VLCC spot charter rate was just US$11,300 and its Suezmaxes trading spot earned just US$11,100 per day.

But every cloud has a silver lining. Specifically, a loss-making business and weak spot rates mean depressed share prices, and cheap tankers for "Big John".

The merger plan: two become one

A week later, on April 7, Euronav announced that a plan to merge the company with Mr Fredriksen's Frontline had been unanimously approved by the independent members of Frontline's Board of Directors and by Euronav's Supervisory Board. The deal was based on a stock-for-stock combination that would result in Euronav shareholders owning approximately 59 per cent of the combined entity, which would be called Frontline, whilst Frontline's shareholders, headed by Mr Fredriksen, would own 41 per cent.

Cleverly, Mr Fredriksen and Euronav agreed that the combined group would be headed by Mr Hugo De Stoop, the current Chief Executive Officer of Euronav, and that the new board would include three current independent Euronav Supervisory Board members, two directors nominated by Fredriksen's Hemen Holding, and two additional new independent directors.

The deal seemed a perfect consolidation play, which would unit Frontline's fleet of 22 VLCCs, 27 Suezmaxes and 18 Aframax tankers with Euronav's 38 owned VLCCs, 25 Suezmaxes, and two large offshore floating storage units working in Qatar.

Note that all this is happening at a time when the tanker orderbook is at a historic low.

Not so fast… no acquisition by Vikings, please!

Unfortunately, one party vehemently disagreed with the idea: the Saverys family, the owners of LNG company Exmar, and who had owned shares in Euronav since 1997.

The arrival of Mr Fredriksen on the share register had already set alarm bells ringing for the family. The brothers Michael, Ludovic and Alexander Saverys spent more than US$176 million up until April 4 increasing their stake in Euronav to over 13 per cent. In May Euronav shareholders had rejected CMB's proposal to nominate three supervisory board members at its annual general meeting. However, undaunted, the Saverys family continued to increase their stake in the company to block the deal, and continued to vociferously denounce the merger. ""This is not a merger, but an acquisition by Vikings," said Alexander Saverys.

Not Bob the Builder, CMB the Stake Builder

Even as Euronav and Frontline announced that the deal had become definitive in July, the Saverys family built up more and more stock in the company, at the same time that Mr Fredriksen added to his own stake in the company.

By the end of July, the Saverys family's Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) was still the largest shareholder in Euronav, with a 19.6 per cent stake against Fredriksen's 18.8 per cent shareholding.

However, December 13 marked a milestone. CMB had managed to acquire 25 per cent of the voting rights in Euronav, constituting a large enough stake to block the merger under Belgium law. This means that even if the deal proceeded, Euronav would still remain a separate legal entity with its own listing on both Euronext Brussels and the New York Stock Exchange.

On January 9, Frontline seemed to fly the white flag of surrender, announcing that is "has terminated the combination agreement it entered into with Euronav."

But on Friday, there came a twist! It emerged that Fredriksen had spent another US$74 million on Euronav shares so that he was now the joint-biggest shareholder with a stake of 25 per cent, like the Saverys family.

So, what happens now?

The past is no guide to future success, but…

Writing a weekly column is a humbling experience. When you mess up, the evidence is there online for all to read for a long time. "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future!" as the physicist Niels Bohr put it.

One of the best ways to make predictions is to look at what happened in the past to see if this is relevant to what may happen in the future. Will this approach work to predict the outcome of the battle for Euronav? Time will tell…

Tradewinds and other industry publications have been quick to point out that John Fredriksen's record of consolidation has been poor in the last two decades, with four failed bids before he ran against Euronav last year: General Maritime in 2008, the Overseas Ship Holding Group in 2008, and the DHT Group and Gener8 Maritime in 2017.

The failed bid on OSG – one of the most arrogant and complacent companies in the entire tanker space, a segment where the egos are as big as the ships – began with a moment that is shipping legend. Joe Brady describes it adequately.

"One night in March 2008, Fredriksen made a rare trip to Connecticut to be installed as the Connecticut Maritime Association's 'Commodore' – a sort of shipping Hall of Fame. He was seated at the ballroom dais of the Stamford Hilton Hotel next to OSG chief executive Morten Arntzen, the outgoing Commodore. By tradition, it would be Arntzen's role to introduce Fredriksen and place the ceremonial tricorne hat on his head. But Fredriksen turned the whole evening on its ear when he leaned over to Arntzen and whispered that he had just acquired 10 per cent of OSG."

However, thwarted by the Jones Act and its cabotage restrictions, Fredriksen failed to break up OSG and eventually sold his stake for a US$20 million loss in 2011.

The dealmaker's backstory

His tanker failures over the last two decades were all the more surprising, because Mr Fredriksen had formed Frontline on the back of audacious and bold deals. He first snapped up London and Overseas Freighters in 1997, Cambridge Partners in 1998, and Golden Ocean in 2000 through a nifty acquisition of its distressed debt in bankruptcy. He is as famous for his big, bold deals as for his support to the Iranian regime of the Ayatollahs in the 1980s.

But the most relevant case for the Euronav situation is the efforts Frontline made between 1997 and 1999 to take over for the Swedish tanker company ICB Shipping, which owned a fleet of six Suezmaxes and six VLCCs. Fredriksen struck early and hard. Frontline was able to buy 51 per cent of ICB's shares, but due to a dual-share structure, it was only able to amass 31 per cent of the votes.

Two years of hostile takeover battles ensued. ICB found a white knight and sold a controlling interest to Greek owner John Angelicoussis. Fredriksen made regulatory threats and issued legal challenges against the ICB board. He even printed adverts in the Swedish press advocating the take-over. He eventually succeeded.

Fredriksen demonstrated aggression, boldness, and persistence, as press coverage from the time shows.

Dig in and prepare for a long fight

The Saverys family need to be prepared for a long battle. Those who think that Mr Fredriksen has not won a take-over battle in two decades weren't watching his achievements in Seadrill, where he began by adding Mosvold Drilling to his scalps in 2003.

Fredriksen's Seadrill managed to outsmart American driller Noble, which had secured a 30 per cent stake in Norwegian driller Smedvig by buying the founding Smedvig family's shares in late 2003. Noble's position appeared unassailable. However, Seadrill was able to dive in and take control of the company by making a generous offer in late December 2003, playing up its local hero credentials, whilst Noble's esteemed board floundered and blathered about their return on investment. By early 2004, Seadrill had snatched control of the company, and Noble was forced to sell, handing another wad of cash back to the savvy Smedvig family as it left.

Further bruising battles ensued over Eastern Drilling in 2006 and 2007, which resulted in Seadrill being fined by the Norwegian securities regulator, but it still prevailed. By 2008, Seadrill had acquired a 40 per cent stake in jack-up owner Scorpion Drilling. In 2010, Fredriksen made his move and outbid American Driller Ensco for the company and its newbuild fleet of drilling rigs. In 2012, Seadrill manoeuvred itself into a majority stake in Sevan Drilling.

So even if the Saverys family had acquired a quarter of Euronav, Fredriksen also has a quarter, despite his feint in early January. Half the company is in play. The small orderbook for tankers makes consolidation very attractive, even if VLCC and Suezmax rates are not especially exciting today.

Euronav's board has rushed to emergency arbitration according to a press release on January 18, claiming that Frontline couldn't unilaterally walk away from the deal. One can almost sense the desperation of Euronav CEO Hugo De Stoop – if Euronav remains independent, he now faces the wrath of the Saverys family for advocating a merger that they have opposed since day one. And if there's no merger, there's no big job for him running the combined entity.

Quite what the arbitration will achieve is not clear. So, pull out some popcorn and enjoy. This battle could run for another year if it follows the duration of the Eastern Drilling, Scorpion, and ICB take-overs.

Of course, the board at Euronav are not the only directors facing travails this month.

DOF's rebels retreat

DOF, the Norwegian owner of around fifty high end offshore support vessels (OSVs), has been effectively bankrupt for several years, unable to service its debts or reach a restructuring, despite agreement between the main shareholder, Møgster Offshore, which controls 31.6 per cent of the company, and the banks and bondholders, who are owed over US$2 billion ( here ).

In November, Bjarte Brønmo and Georg Wilhelm Bjørnestad, who hold around 11 per cent of shares in the beleaguered company, led a revolt against an agreed restructuring plan that would see the existing shareholders reduced to holding just four per cent of the company, as long suffering lenders and bondholders took over the other 96 per cent. At an extraordinary general meeting on November 11, 2022, the "rebels" successfully led the shareholders to reject the proposal. In theory, this meant that the shareholders would then get only one per cent in a court-enforced restructuring.

Brønmo and Bjørnestad then seized control of the company in December in a surprising vote to replace the DOF board of directors. They appointed four directors of their own, including new chairman Leif Salomonsen. They claimed that the proposed restructuring with creditors – a move that would swap the debt for shares in the company – was unfair to the existing shareholders, and that they had only a short time to save the company by negotiating a better deal.

At the time, I warned that "the rebels still face an uphill struggle." And so it has proved.

Last week, Bjarte Brøndmo, on his own initiative, according to the press release, resigned as a board member of the company.

Same, same, but worse?

On Friday, DOF announced that it has decided to submit a proposal for a new restructuring plan to the creditors and that it will hold another extraordinary general meeting to consider this proposal.

The plan has already received support from Møgster Offshore, which owns approximately 31.6 per cent of the shares in DOF, just as the last one did. In fact, it is very similar to the last one, save for one small tweak.

The board's new proposal means that the existing shareholders will own 3.75 per cent of a strengthened DOF after debt conversion. The company will continue its operations.

The directors point out that the new 2023 restructuring proposal is based on the restructuring agreement that was negotiated between the company and the creditors, which was voted down at the extraordinary general meeting in November last year. The original proposal in 2022 would have meant that shareholders would own four per cent of the shares in the company. After this proposal was defeated by the rebels, it was likely that the shareholders would end up with a one per cent stake, unless the rebels could compel the creditors to accept a better deal.

The proposal that the board has now submitted means that the existing shareholders will own 3.75 per cent of the company's shares after debt conversion. The proposal is otherwise identical to the previous proposal.

So, the rebels have achieved the great result of wasting two more months, spending thousands on lawyers and advisers, and achieving no positive outcome, save that they and the other shareholders lose another 0.25 per cent of the company.

If I could turn back time

DOF's chairman, Leif Salomonsen channeled Cher, singer of If I Could Turn Back Time , in the DOF press release:

"The board would have liked to see the shareholders retain a larger share of the company than the reconstruction suggests. If it had been possible to turn back the clock and restart negotiations with the creditors today, this might have been possible. However, it is a fact that the DOF Group has approximately NOK25 billion (US$2.5 billion) in debt on which, for the most part, neither interest nor instalments have been paid for more than two years…"

I was waiting for him to conclude that he didn't really mean to hurt the creditors, he didn't want to see the original restructuring plan go, and he knew he made them cry, but if he could turn back time, if he could find a way….

Mr Brønmo and Mr Bjørnestad, we salute you. It's not even a Pyrrhic victory; it's a Pyrrhic defeat.

Capricorn falling

In astrology, Capricorn is the star sign of the stubborn and work-obsessed. Capricorn Energy, on the other hand, is the former Cairn Energy, an Edinburgh-headquartered, British-listed oil and gas explorer with a serious strategy problem.

Last week, Capricorn's chief executive, its chairwoman, and five other directors announced they were quitting after a battle with activist investor Palliser Capital over whether to sell the company to Israel's NewMed Energy. Palliser owns seven per cent of Cairn and wants Cairn to pay out most of its US$760 million cash as a special dividend and not to merge the company. Palliser argued that NewMed was paying too little for Capricorn. The activist has proven more stubborn than Capricorn's board.

The Financial Times reported that Capricorn's chairwoman Nicoletta Giadrossi and its CEO Simon Thomson, who has held the post for more than 10 years, were departing the board with immediate effect last week along with three other directors. The other two directors, including chief financial officer James Smith, were slated to be out before the end of the day on Tuesday, January 31. Only two of the original lineup of directors remain.

DOF has a clear path out of its difficulties. It just needs its shareholders to agree. At Capricorn, the shareholders are angry, but there is now no clear way forward for the company after this mass resignation.

Tullow ditched and now NewMed shelved too?

After its successful tax case against the Indian government and the lucrative sale of its stake in Senegal's Sangomar oilfield, Capricorn faced an embarrassment of riches – the Indian government was due to pay it one billion US dollars, and the cash was very attractive to both shareholders and other oil companies – much more attractive, in fact, than Capricorn's ongoing field developments in Mexico and Egypt, and its portfolio of exploration licenses in Suriname, Mauritania and the Mediterranean.

On June 1 last year, Tullow Oil, a notoriously indebted and unsuccessful explorer also listed in London, announced that it had reached an agreement to merge with Capricorn in an all-stock deal worth US$827 million. For Tullow, this gave it access to much needed liquidity (a.k.a. cold, hard cash) and diversification away from its profitable but mature offshore producing fields in Ghana, Jubilee, and TEN.

Capricorn's shareholders, headed by Palliser, were not happy, however – there seemed to be a lot of benefits for Tullow, but few for Capricorn. Faced with a revolt, Capricorn CEO Simon Thomson then found a new and better suitor, he hoped. In September,  Capricorn announced that it had scrapped its merger with Tullow in favour of a deal with Israeli natural gas group NewMed Energy.

NewMed deal worked… for NewMed

NewMed, which holds a 45.3 per cent working interest in the vast Leviathan gas field in Israeli waters, offered an all-share deal that would leave Capricorn shareholders with around 10 per cent of the combined company and NewMed's current unit holders and partners holding the balance. The deal would give NewMed an easy London listing and more exposure outside Israel, as well as to Capricorn's geologists and drilling teams.

As a sweetener, Capricorn shareholders would receive a cash special dividend, estimated to be US$620 million, prior to the merger. The MedMed deal valued Capricorn at 271 pence (US$3.34) per share, a premium of 36 per cent to its closing price on May 31, the last business day before the Tullow merger announcement.

Unfortunately, with the board walking out en masse and Palliser's nominations likely to be running the show, the chances of Capricorn's deal with NewMed going through seem low. The deal will be voted upon on February 22, but the new board opposes it, and the resignation of the CEO and the chair suggest that they knew they would lose the vote.

Dog bites car; so what?

What happens now is unclear. Rather like Mr Brønmo and Mr Bjørnestad at DOF, it seems that Palliser has plenty of things it doesn't like at Capricorn but it has no clear plan of action to provide a better long-term alternative.

Rather like the proverbial dog chasing a car, Capricorn's activist investors appear uncertain what to do when they actually bite into the vehicle's bumper and get what they want.

With Mr Thomson and Ms Giadrossi out of the door, what will Palliser do to radically transform the company? It is one thing being a carping critic on the sidelines and quite another setting a strategy for an oil company as demoralised as Capricorn now is, with its leadership gone and its future uncertain.

DOF, Euronav, and Capricorn all face tough decisions in the next couple of weeks. Directors are highly paid. At all three companies, they will certainly earn their fees as they address difficult questions about future strategy, and their own fiduciary duty to all shareholders, not just the most vocal.

Background reading

GCaptain 's John Fredriksen: The Man, The Myth, the Legend from 2012 remains a good starting point for the life and achievement of our protagonist.

History of Frontline here.

Our past coverage of DOF is here and of Capricorn Energy is here.

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John Fredriksen’s Frontline moves to Cyprus

Frontline announced that a Special General Meeting of Shareholders was held on December 20, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. local time, at Par-la-Ville Place, 4(th) Floor, 14 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton, Bermuda.

The proposals set out below were all approved by Frontline’s shareholders at the Special General Meeting:

Increase of Authorised Share Capital

To approve an increase of Frontline’s authorized share capital from $500,000,000 (divided into 500,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $1.00), to $600,000,000 (divided into 600,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $1.00), by the creation of an additional 100,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $1.00, with such newly created ordinary shares to be of the same category and have the same rights and to rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in all respects.

Redomicilitation

To approve:-

a) re-domicile Frontline by way of discontinuation out of Bermuda and continue as a public company limited by shares incorporated in the Republic of Cyprus (“Cyprus”) under the name of Frontline Plc (the “Redomiciliation”);

b) an amendment to the Company’s current Amended and Restated Bye-Laws, to include a provision allowing for the Company’s redomiciliation out of Bermuda as required under the laws of Cyprus (the “Discontinuation Amendment”);

c) adopt, upon the Redomiciliation taking effect by issuance of the temporary certificate of continuation in Cyprus, the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association governed by the laws of Cyprus, in place of Frontline’s current Memorandum of Association and Frontline’s current Amended and Restated Bye-Laws including as amended by the proposed Discontinuation Amendment (the “Current Constitution”) and which will abolish and replace the Current Constitution upon the Redomiciliation;

d) Frontline’s appointment of Marios Saveriades and/or Constantinos Saveriades, both of K.C. Saveriades & Co. LLC of Limassol, Cyprus as the authorized representative(s) in Cyprus to effect the Redomiciliation and sign all necessary applications and statutory declarations;

e) Further to approve:

(i) 8, John Kennedy Street, Iris House, Off. 740B, 3106 Limassol, Cyprus as the registered address of Frontline Plc;

(ii) (the resignations of James Ayers and Marios Saveriades as secretary and assistant secretary of Frontline (Bermuda), respectively, and the appointment of Marios Saveriades as Secretary of Frontline;

(iii) the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. Cyprus as local statutory auditors of Frontline Plc; and

(iv) the continuation of the current directors of Frontline (Bermuda), namely John Fredriksen, James O’Shaughnessy, Ola Lorentzon, Steen Jakobsen, Ole B. Hjertaker and Marios Demetriades, as the directors of Frontline Plc.

As will follow from these resolutions, Frontline’s shareholders have approved the Redomiciliation of the Company to the Republic of Cyprus under the name of Frontline plc. The Redomiciliation is described in further details in the final proxy statement and prospectus that was mailed to shareholders of record, and included in the Company’s announcement of the Special General Meeting, on December 6, 2022 (the “Proxy Statement/Prospectus”).

The Redomiciliation remains subject to certain final conditions as set forth in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus, including the issuance of a temporary redomiciliation certificate (the “Temporary Redomiciliation Certificate”) by the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver of the Republic of Cyprus (the “Cyprus Companies’ Registry”). If such remaining conditions are satisfied, the Redomiciliation is expected to be completed by December 31, 2022 or shortly thereafter following which the Company’s shares will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange and the Oslo Stock Exchange under the existing ticker symbol FRO.

Frontline will issue a separate announcement prior to the effective date of the Redomiciliation, including key information relating to the change of the ISIN and CUSIP numbers that identify Frontline’s shares. Following the Redomiciliation, Frontline plc’s new ISIN will be CY0200352116 and new CUSIP will be M46528101. Frontline plc’s LEI number will not be affected by the Redomiciliation and will remain the same. Following the effective date of the Redomiciliation, shareholders of Frontline will hold one share of Frontline plc for each ordinary share of Frontline held prior to the Redomiciliation.

Upon effectiveness of the Redomiciliation, the rights of shareholders of Frontline plc will arise under Cyprus law and the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (the “Frontline Cyprus Charter”). The Frontline Cyprus Charter, as approved at the Special General Meeting, will be effective from the date the Temporary Redomiciliation Certificate is issued by the Cyprus Companies’ Registry. The Company’s existing Memorandum of Association and Amended and Restated Bye-Laws, as amended by the Discontinuation Amendment (the “Current Constitution”), as approved at the Special General Meeting, will be replaced in their entirety and abolished by operation of law on the date the Temporary Certificate of Redomiciliation is issued. The Frontline Cyprus Charter and Cyprus law contain provisions that differ in some respects from those in Frontline’s Current Constitution and Bermuda law. In view of the differences between Cyprus law and Bermuda law, some rights as a shareholder of Frontline plc (Cyprus) could differ materially from the current shareholder rights of Frontline Ltd. (Bermuda). The Frontline Cyprus Charter will be substantially the same as the Current Constitution, subject to changes to conform to Cyprus law, noting that the Frontline Cyprus Charter will contain certain additional interim governance provisions.

For additional information on the differences in Bermuda and Cyprus corporate law, see the section entitled “Comparison of Bermuda and Cyprus Corporate Law” of the Proxy Statement/Prospectus, which includes a description of material provisions under the law of Bermuda and the law of Cyprus relating shareholder rights.

Upon effectiveness of the Redomiciliation, Cyprus will become the Company’s “home member state” for the purposes of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market and amending Directive 2001/34/EC (the EU Transparency Directive). Following the Redomiciliation, Frontline plc’s financial reporting obligations will be governed by Cyprus law, and investors will be subject to Cyprus law with respect to disclosures of large shareholdings. Under Cyprus law, investors are required to make a notification to the Company and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission whenever a shareholder’s holding of shares in the Company reaches, exceeds or drops below 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 50% or 75% of the voting rights of the Company.

Following the Redomiciliation, Cyprus will also become the Company’s “home member state” for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market.

Following the Redomiciliation, Frontline plc will be partly subject to the mandatory take-over provisions as set out in the Norwegian Securities Trading Act chapter 6, and will be partly subject to the provisions set out in the Public Takeover Bids for the Acquisition of Securities of Companies and Related Matters Law (Law 41(I)/2007) as amended by law 47(I)/2009 and 7(Ι)/2015 of Cyprus. The threshold at which the mandatory bid obligations are triggered, including possible exemptions from the obligation to present a bid (including possible exemptions for subsequent sale of shares), is subject to Cyprus law, pursuant to which a mandatory takeover bid is required where a person indirectly or directly acquires (together with persons acting in concert with the aforementioned person) a percentage of 30% or more of the existing voting rights in the Company. Upon reaching this threshold, the shareholder shall make an unconditional general offer for the purchase of the remaining shares in Frontline plc. The obligation to make an unconditional offer also applies where a shareholder, directly or indirectly, already holds 30% or more but less than 50%, of the voting rights in Frontline plc (i.e. that the shareholder held such amount of shares prior to listing or have inherited such shares) and such shareholder intends to increase the said percentage.

If any shareholder holds more than 50% of the voting rights, the Cyprus authorities might, subject to application from the relevant shareholder, exempt such shareholder from the bidding obligation, if the proposed acquisition does not affect the rights of the minority shareholders of Frontline plc. The takeover supervisory authority with respect to the threshold will be the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Frontline

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Norwegian West Alpha rig to drill in Russian Kara Sea’s Arctic waters

About 100 servicemen will accompany the 27 year old West Alpha drilling rig as it this year makes its first ever mission abroad, to the harsh waters of the Kara Sea, Barents Observer reported on January 6. The work agreements have been concluded and the oilmen will in July be ready for a unique drilling operation in the Russian remote Arctic waters. A special 3 weeks on - 6 weeks off rotating scheme has been elaborated for the workers adjusted to the location of the field. According to Offshore.no, the workers will be brought to and from the rig by boat from Murmansk, a distance of more than 2000 km. The semi-submersible West Alpha is owned by Seadrill, the major offshore drilling company managed from Norway and controlled by business tycoon John Fredriksen. It was built in 1986 and has so far operated only in Norwegian waters. The drilling is by many considered highly controversial considering the harsh climate and the complex ice conditions in the area.  It is ExxonMobil which will be main responsible for the drilling operations. The company in 2011 struck a comprehensive Arctic cooperation agreement with Rosneft, according to which the the two companies will jointly map and develop the three East Prinovozemelsky License Blocks in the Kara Sea, an area covering 126,000 square kilometers. This year's drillhole will be made at the Akademichskoye, a prospective structure at the Prinovozemelsky-1 license. As previously reported, Rosneft has picked the Vostco Yard for project design and concept development at the Prinovozemelsky projects. The Russian far eastern yard with experiences from the Sakhalin offshore projects, is expected to work closely together with Norwegian engineering major Kværner in the project. Copyright: Barents Observer, 2014

• Russian Arctic recoverable oil, gas resources estimated at 106bn tons
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• Norway’s Statoil makes discovery in North Sea
• Norway’s oil production falls in March 2014
• VNG makes oil and gas discovery in Norwegian Sea
• Well dry for GDF SUEZ in Barents Sea

Pioneering Russian Offshore - Sakhalin Energy at 20

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McAsphalt takes deliverey of a 12,000 DWT bitumen tanker

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Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding Receives Order for Four 210,000 DWT Bulk Carriers

Norwegian shipowner John Fredriksen returned to the Newcastlemax bulk carrier market and placed his first newbuilding order with Qingdao Yangfan within six years.

Seatankers Management, the family holding company of John Fredriksen, has signed a contract with Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding for the construction of four 210,000 dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers, according to industry sources. The new bulk carriers, which will be conventionally fueled and equipped with desulfurization units, will be built at a cost of approximately $68 million per unit, with a total order value of approximately $272 million, and are expected to be delivered in 2027 and 2028.

This is the first large bulk carrier order after Qingdao Yangfan’s bankruptcy reorganization.

Seatankers Management’s last order for Newcastlemax bulk carriers dates back to 2018, when it placed orders for a total of 10 newbuildings from New Times Shipbuilding (6) and Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry (4). Due to the shipbuilding recession at that time, the cost of this series of Newcastlemax bulk carriers was only $45 million. In contrast, new shipbuildings ordered by Seatankers Management after a six-year hiatus are up $23 million per unit.

Seatankers Management’s wave of new vessel orders begins in 2024. According to a previous announcement by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), Seatankers Management has signed a contract with Dalian Shipbuilding for 6+2 300,000 dwt conventional-fueled Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), the new VLCCs will be equipped with desulphurization devices, and are expected to be delivered starting in 2026, with a unit cost of approximately $116 million.

Seatankers Management’s order for Newcastlemax bulk carriers is understood to be Qingdao Yangfan’s second public order for new vessels this year. On February 14, ammonia producer/owner Yara Clean Ammonia, Norwegian container operator NorthSea Container Line, and Yara International, in cooperation with CMB.TECH, ordered from Qingdao Yangfan for the world’s first pure ammonia-fueled 1,400 TEU ice-class container ship–the Yara Eyde.

Yara Eyde, which will be equipped with a 250kWh battery pack and shore power system, has been awarded approximately NOK 40 million (US$3.6 million) in project implementation funding from Enova, a Norwegian government enterprise, and is expected to be delivered in mid-2026, when it will become the world’s first ammonia-powered container ship.

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Exiled russian oligarch’s 257’ superyacht amaryllis seen towed through palm beach.

The Amaryllis being towed past the former mansion of Henry Flagler, built in 1902

By John Jannarone and Alan Hatfield

The 257’ superyacht Amaryllis apparently owned by exiled Russian oligarch Andrey Borodin was towed past Palm Beach, FL on Friday morning, according to a visual account by CorpGov .

The yacht, whose owner is frequently cited as Mr. Borodin by enthusiast publications, moved slowly through the Lake Worth lagoon where bridges were raised for its passage. A towboat with flashing lights about 150 feet ahead pulled the Amaryllis , built by German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen in 2011.

While CorpGov could not officially confirm Mr. Borodin as the owner of the vessel, his wife, socialite Tatiana Korsakova, has posted dozens of Instagram photos and videos aboard the Amaryllis. A yacht broker interviewed by CorpGov confirmed that Ms. Korsakova is indeed aboard the Amaryllis in the photos and videos.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tatiana Korsakova (@tati_vk)

The sighting comes as billions of dollars in Russian-owned yachts have been seized around the world as a result of international sanctions. CNN has published an extensive list of seized vessels, which were taken in harbor cities including Mallorca, Spain and London.

However, it is unclear if the Amaryllis was being seized or voluntarily towed. Very large yachts often choose to be towed because bridges are required to raise for them, according to the yacht broker.

The former Bank of Moscow chief was granted political asylum in the UK in February 2013 after fleeing what he alleged to be politically-motivated fraud and embezzlement charges. Mr. Borodin would go on to be tried and convicted in abstentia in Russian Court in 2018, but not before managing to enlist a number of prominent American lawmakers to lobby Washington for a U.S. visa. Despite Russian extradition requests to the UK government, Borodin’s controversial attempts to make large donations to the NHS, and the uncovering of an assassination plot against his life, the fugitive banker remains overseas, having been granted access to his Swiss bank accounts and having made several notable London real estate purchases during his time in exile.

Mr. Borodin is widely listed as a billionaire, but his total wealth remains difficult to confirm accurately, with the governments of Switzerland and the Bahamas having been asked to help the Russian government in its legal case. In 2012, Borodin purchased the UK’s then-most expensive home, an 80-hectare 18th-century estate in Oxfordshire, for upwards of $217 million. In 2017 he was granted access to personal Swiss accounts holding a reported $378 million. The Amaryllis was purchased for a reported $120 million.

Mr. Borodin did not immediately respond to an emailed query from CorpGov , while the FBI declined to comment. An emailed query to The Department of Homeland Security was not returned.

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