The top two shareholders in Euronav have made their next moves in the protracted takeover saga for one of Belgium’s top shipping names, reports Splash247.
CMB
The Saverys family-controlled Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), Euronav’s top shareholder with a 25% stake, is pushing shareholders to replace the existing supervisory board at the tanker company, something that will be due for a vote on March 23. The existing board is still pushing for a merger with John Fredriksen-controlled Frontline, despite the latter officially canning its combination plans last month.
Explaining why CMB is so keen to get rid of the existing board, the company stated in a release yesterday: “Our view is that only new leadership will be able to get the company back on course after these tumultuous times, restore serenity around the debate on the future strategy and promote a constructive dialogue with all of its stakeholders, and properly assess the strategic alternatives available to Euronav, rather than clinging to the ‘bigger is better’ approach taken by the Current Board.”
CMB has once again outlined its plans for Euronav with long-term goals to diversify the fleet into other shipping segments and to accelerate the decarbonisation in shipping with the idea of integrating CMB.TECH, the Saverys’ green tech firm, into Euronav.
CMB intends to host a conference call on February 15 to give Euronav shareholders and analysts the chance to ask questions about its intentions.
As a sop to CMB and Fredriksen, who controls 24.99% of the company, Euronav management has offered to give the two parties two extra board seats on the supervisory board, something CMB has dismissed, but which Fredriksen said yesterday he’d be happy to accept, nominating himself and Cato Stonex for the positions. Stonex runs Stonex Capital Partners as well as WMC Capital, a shipping investment company.
