The Saverys family has invested more than 33 million shares in Euronav in order to win proxies at Euronav's annual general meeting on May 19 to block the merger of Euronav and frontline.
As previously reported by Xinde Maritime.com, the ship king Frederickson hopes that Euronav and frontline will merge to create the largest oil tanker company in history, so as to counter market risks and expand the market influence of the fleet.
The Saverys family goes all out to build up their holdings
But Euronav's largest shareholder, the Saverys family, seems to have objections to this. It is reported that the Saverys family prefers Euronav to develop towards a green fleet, either not to merge or to merge with other companies. However, we can see from Euronav's investment ratio that although the Saverys family is the largest shareholder, its share of shares is far from the point where the family has a full say in the board of directors.
So, recently, the Saverys family used their other company, Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), to increase its outstanding shares in Euronav to more than 16%.
Specifically, CMB's latest purchase of 33.25 million shares brought its share in Euronav to 16.49%, a significant increase from the 14.39% reported on April 14 and the 13.22% held earlier this month. CMB's stake also significantly exceeds Fredrickson's roughly 10 percent stake.
CMB chief executive Alexander Saverys is trying his best to persuade Euronav's shareholders to reject the merger with Frontline and to agree to a merger of Euronav and CMB.
In addition to this, the Saverys family have also publicly stated that they will seek to replace Euronav's board of directors, currently led by De Stoop, as the likes of De Stoop are on Frontline's side.
According to the latest CMB filing, the company will nominate Ludovic Saverys, Alexander's younger brother, to Euronav's board of directors. Ludovic is currently CMB's Chief Financial Officer. Two other CMB directors, Patrick De Brabandere and Bjarte Boe, are also among the board members to be elected.
In a letter to Euronav on Tuesday, the Saverys brothers said: "Euronav is at an important crossroads in its development, and as the world's largest independent crude oil tanker company has the opportunity and responsibility to think carefully about its long-term future and industry before setting its course. future. By proposing the appointment of three additional supervisory board members, we hope to enable the company to discuss various strategic options openly, comprehensively and fairly, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders.”
Approaching the right to gain "negative control"
As mentioned above, the Saverys family already owns about 16.5% of Euronav, which means that the family is getting close to negative control of the company - the stake must reach 25%.
Jørgen Lian, senior analyst at DNB Markets, said: “We can only speculate, but they (the Saverys family) are getting more and more shares, approaching 25%, which may mean they will gain negative control. But at the same time I also Think it's going to be more and more difficult for them to get more shares (to buy additional shares)."
According to the Financial Times, Alexander Saverys has told the outlet that he is working on a plan to block the announced merger of Euroav and Frontline. He said he "has more than one way".
