Top management at Euronav have filed an application request for arbitration on Frontline’s decision earlier this month to step away from a planned combination agreement.
A judgment in the pending emergency arbitration proceedings is expected on February 7 as the Hugo De Stoop-led tanker firm fights battles on multiple fronts with another top shareholder, the Saverys family, looking to shuffle the board.
“Euronav has assessed that Frontline’s unilateral action in pursuing the termination of the combination agreement has no basis under the terms of the combination agreement and that Frontline failed to provide a satisfactory reason for its decision to pursue termination,” Euronav stated in a release today.
Both the boards of Frontline and Euronav agreed to a combination in July last year, a merger that became more problematic when the Saverys family built up a stake that was large enough to block any full merger of the two tanker companies.
As it stands today the Saverys and various entities controlled by Frontline boss John Fredriksen are on an almost equal footing, controlling roughly one quarter of Euronav’s stock each. The Belgian tanker firm is due to issue quarterly results later this week.
