Nordic Tankers/Clipper Group deal sealed
SHIPPING: The agreement on Nordic Tankers acquisition of parts of the chemical tanker operations of Clipper Group A/S has now been completed. According to the agreement, Clipper Group A/S and Clipper Tankships will convert their ownership interests in five shipowning companies into a 31% ownership interest in Nordic Tankers.
Moreover, minority owners in the five shipowning companies will convert their ownership interests into a 12% ownership interest in Nordic Tankers.
As a result of the transaction, the Executive Board of Nordic Tankers now consists of CEO Tommy Thomsen and CFO Christian Hassel.
Tommy Thomsen, former partner of A.P. Møller-Mærsk, has been CEO of Clipper Tankers since January 2008. Christian Hassel, former CEO of Carnegie Investment Banking Denmark, has been Executive Advisor of Clipper Group since April 2009.
The remaining senior management team of Nordic Tankers will consist of Senior Vice President Jens Pontoppidan and Senior Vice President Claus Thornberg. Former CEO Jens Pontoppidan and former COO Claus Breitenbauch will resign from the Executive Board.
Through the combination, Nordic Tankers, being a so-called tonnage provider that has previously outsourced all commercial and technical operations, will in a single move become a key operator of chemical tankers.
The Nordic Tankers fleet now consists of 15 owned vessels - six product tankers of between 35,000 and 73,000 dwt and nine chemical tankers of between 5,000 and 13,000 DWT.
Moreover, Nordic Tankers will be responsible for the operation of Clipper's 55 remaining chemical and product tankers. Nordic Tankers' product tankers will continue to be marketed through TORM's LR1 pool and Maersk's Handytanker pool.
Source: Nordic Tankers