CMB.TECH, the shipowning vehicle controlled by the Saverys family, has bought a 40.8% stake in Golden Ocean, one of Europe’s largest dry bulk owners, from John Fredriksen’s Hemen Holding for close to $1.2bn. CMB.TECH said there were no takeover plans yet, and that the acquisition is in line with the company’s strategic objective of diversification, and investing in a modern dry bulk fleet. “Minority shareholders are disappointed to hear that a mandatory bid is not going to be launched – and a small shift in focus is going to be likely,” said Eirik Haavaldsen, head of research at Pareto Securities. Trailing shareholders with a 5% stake and less include BlackRock and the Norwegian pension fund Folketrygdfondet. The price of $14.49 per share represents about 44% premium to US close. “We believe the price is stellar. On our numbers, it equates to around 1.29x NAV, and a share price not seen since May last year… A deal with cash upfront and no strings attached – at a massive premium to NAV and normal cashflow multiple valuation – is in our view easy to understand. In many ways, given the price here, we would not really read too much into it besides that,” Haavaldsen added. Alexander Saverys, CEO of CMB.TECH, commented: “The acquisition of the Golden Ocean shares from Hemen represents a significant milestone in CMB.TECH’s diversification strategy. We look forward to engaging with the board, management and employees of Golden Ocean and to build on Golden Ocean’s and Mr. Fredriksen’s strong legacy to drive long-term growth and innovation.” The news comes after Fredriksen and the Saverys family fought a 15-month battle for control of Euronav earlier this decade, something that eventually resulted in the Norwegian taking many of the firm’s most modern tankers, and Euronav remaining with the Saverys family and being rebranded CMB.TECH. Nasdaq and Oslo-listed Golden Ocean was spun off from Frontline in 2004 and today counts 91 bulkers in its fleet. The company’s owned fleet comprises 51 capesize and 32 panamax vessels. Eight capsizes were also recently bought out of leases from Fredriksen’s shipowning company SFL Corp and are expected for delivery in the third quarter of this year. CMB.TECH dry bulk outfit Bocimar owns 12 newcastlemaxes, with 16 more delivering between 2025 and 2027, according to the fleet list. ”To us, a merger with their (CMB.TECH) drybulk arm would make sense, with Golden Ocean’s strong balance sheet then possibly helping finance the newbuild boom that is underway. This could imply further divestments of older ships in Golden Ocean – which not necessarily would be negative as older ship values are stubbornly high in light of current rates. However, lower dividends in order to preserve cash for newbuild payments would certainly be a negative for minority shareholders, Haavaldsen noted. For analysts at Arctic Securities the deal for CMB.TECH could potentially solve the free float and result in a more permanent solution to the equity covenant, but the fact that there is no mandatory offer following the purchase is likely reflecting some of the premium that CMB.TECH is willing to offer. “If the company continues as-is, it should not necessarily mean too much on valuation, although some might argue that the JF premium is gone. Should the company merge with CMB.TECH, the pure-play exposure is gone – but it still offers a very compelling asset mix with tankers and dry bulk as the main asset exposure,” Arctic said in its report. googlet