Frontline Wraps Up Acquisition of 10 Suezmaxes from Trafigura

John Fredriksen’s shipping company Frontline has closed the acquisition of 10 Suezmax tankers from Trafigura Maritime Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trafigura Group Pte Ltd.

The deal was announced back in August 2019.

Under the terms of the contract, Frontline agreed to acquire a Trafigura Maritime Logistics special purpose vehicle that holds the vessels at a consideration of 16,035,856 ordinary shares of Frontline at an agreed price of USD 8.00 per share issuable upon signing, and a cash amount ranging from USD 538 to 547 million.

Following the closing of the deal, Trafigura will own 8.48% of the ordinary shares of the tanker owner, while Frontline will have a total of 189,153,166 outstanding shares par value USD 1.00 each.

The ten 2019-built Suezmax tankers are all fitted with exhaust gas cleaning systems.

The closure of the transaction comes 10 days after Frontline signed a sale-and-leaseback agreement worth USD 544 million with ICBC Financial Leasing.

The money will be used to finance the cash amount payable upon the closing of the vessel acquisition.