Shipping partnership to end after 19 years

One of the shipping industry’s most influential partnerships is set to end after 19 years, after Tor Olav Trøim said he was stepping down from his role at John Fredriksen’s main holding company.

Mr Trøim’s move takes out of the mainstream shipping industry the man who has handled the implementation of many of the business moves of Mr Fredriksen, the world’s best-known and most influential shipowner.

However, the duo said Mr Trøim would step up his involvement with Mr Fredriksen’s liquefied natural gas tanker business, Golar LNG, and SeaDrill, his offshore oil rig owner.

Mr Trøim has guided Mr Fredriksen’s relations with the capital markets since before Frontline, his flagship oil tanker operator, launched its IPO in 1997. The growth of Mr Fredriksen’s companies – which now span financial services and fish-farming as well as shipping and energy – has brought Mr Fredriksen a fortune sometimes estimated as high as $10bn and also brought Mr Trøim substantial wealth.

Erik Nikolai Stavseth, an analyst at Oslo-based Arctic Securities, said Mr Trøim had been instrumental in transforming Mr Fredriksen’s operations into a diversified conglomerate with multiple operations.

“I think few would argue if one said that neither Mr Fredriksen nor Mr Trøim would have gotten where they are today without each other,” Mr Stavseth said.

Golar LNG said the two men had been discussing over the past year how to structure their co-operation in future because Mr Trøim wanted to concentrate on a smaller number of investments.

“We have enjoyed 19 years of co-operation and are both pleased with the achievements we have made,” the company quoted the two as saying. “We look forward to continuing our successful partnership, albeit in a different format in the future.”

Mr Trøim would step down from his full-time role at Seatankers, Mr Fredriksen’s main holding company, on July 31, Golar said. It stressed that he would retain his roles as vice-chairman of Golar LNG, SeaDrill and a number of other related LNG and drilling companies.

However, that implies he will step down from his other directorships, including his role at Golden Ocean, the listed dry bulk ship owner that Mr Fredriksen manages. Mr Trøim would sell independent investment and advisory services to Seatankers to help it to develop its holdings in Golar and SeaDrill.

Basil Karatzas, a New York-based ship finance adviser, said Mr Trøim’s move reflected a continued effort by the Fredriksen companies to shift away from commodity shipping areas such as oil tankers and dry bulk. Commodity shipping continues to suffer from oversupply of ships and the sluggish global economy.

As part of the shift, Mr Trøim was buying from Mr Fredriksen 3m shares in Golar – worth $186m at Monday’s $62.16 share price – and 2m shares in SeaDrill, worth $74m at Monday’s $36.79 share price.