Shipping magnate John Fredriksen has not lost his appetite for the Belgian tanker giant Euronav and is quietly approaching a mandatory takeover offer threshold.
The largest shareholder and supervisory board member now owns close to 28.5% of the Antwerp-based company after its investment vehicle, Famatown Finance, added around $63m worth of shares, lifting its stake to 21.71%, according to the latest US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
Before this transaction, Fredriksen held 24.99% of shares through Famatown and Frontline, slightly ahead of the second largest shareholder, the Saverys family.
If Fredriksen buys more than 30% of Euronav’s shares, he could trigger a mandatory takeover offer for the company after walking away from a merger deal with his tanker firm, Frontline, earlier this year.
Euronav has been navigating troubled waters for more than a year, including a failed merger with Frontline, which subsequently saw the company’s CEO, Hugo De Stoop, leave “by mutual agreement” after a lengthy row with the Saverys family. Two new independent directors, Julie De Nul and Ole Henrik Bjrge, joined the Brussels- and New York-listed firm’s board in May.
