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Oaktree swoops for OSM

American asset manager Oaktree Capital Management has swooped for Norwegian shipmanagement giant OSM.

Oaktree, which has a large shipping portfolio already, has bought nearly 50% of the shares in OSM, one of the world’s largest shipmanagers with 500 ships on its books.

Oaktree is best known in shipping circles for its investments in shipowners such as Torm and Star Bulk. This marks its first foray into shipmanagement.

Geir Sekkesæter, OSM’s CEO, told Splash today he was “positive on what [Oaktree] can bring us, and they will make us a more robust organisation.”

With Oaktree onboard OSM is likely to push ahead with acquisitions. In March last year OSM tapped two veterans with deep knowledge of mergers and acquisitions. Jens Lassen, former head of Carnival Maritime and Donald Anderson, former CEO of V. Ships, joined OSM’s board.

OSM launched in 1989 and has grown from its roots providing crewing solutions to Norwegian clients to become a top 10 shipmanager in the world.

Grant Rowles

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.
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