Antwerp shipping company Euronav seals major takeover
The Antwerp shipping company Euronav has acquired its American competitor Gener8 Maritime in a major takeover, becoming the world's biggest stock market-listed oil tanker operator. The deal is worth over 400 million euros.
Officially Euronav and Gener8 are not talking about a takeover, but about a merger by moving all Gener8's shares under Euronav's umbrella. The New York shipping giant thus becomes a daughter company. Euronav will have 72 percent of the shares, compared to 28 percent for the Americans.
"Euronav is making a big leap here", explains VRT journalist Steven Rombaut. "The company already had 25 super tankers to carry oil, and is acquiring 21 more through the takeover. The move comes just 4 years after a previous one, when they bought 15 big vessels from the Danish company Maersk."
Euronav was nominated to become "company of the year" in 2017.