Cavalier Shipping founder James Lightbourn analysed the [Euroholdings] transaction and found that Marla paid a 95% premium to Euroholdings’ stock price and a 32% premium to its estimated net asset value (NAV). Mr. Lightbourn noted similarities between the Euroholdings deal and CMB.TECH’s acquisition of John Fredriksen’s stake in Golden Ocean, a dry bulk specialist.
"The size of [Fredriksen’s] overall exposure to publicly listed dry bulk companies is now a billion dollars less than it was just a few weeks ago. He sold his Golden Ocean stake for approximately US$1.2Bn and purchased nearly US$200M worth of Star Bulk shares. Therefore, I wouldn’t rush to interpret this as a purely bullish call on the dry bulk market as a whole," noted Mr Lightbourn.
Mr. Lightbourn suggested CMB.TECH’s move was primarily driven by the opportunity to gain effective control over Golden Ocean’s 91-vessel bulk carrier fleet.