Frontline announced that it no longer pursues a combination between Frontline and Euronav, as Frontline has terminated the combination agreement it entered into with Euronav in this respect.
During 2022, information had emerged regarding the combination between Frontline and Euronav. However, Frontline decided to pull out from the merger, and will not make a voluntary conditional exchange offer for all outstanding Euronav shares.
Frontline will also no longer seek a listing on Euronext Brussels, and has simultaneously with this notice published a separate notice withdrawing its intention to such voluntary conditional exchange offer.
Commenting on the withdrawal, Lars H. Barstad, CEO of Frontline said:
We regret that we could not complete the merger as envisaged in July 2022, as that would have created the by far largest publicly listed tanker company. At the same time, both companies have independently very large fleets of crude oil and product tankers, and are already enjoying economies of scale as evidenced by our respective recent financial reports
The two companies announced the deal last year, aiming to create an oil tanker group with 146 vessels. Euronav had also received “a clear signal” from shareholders in support of its proposed deal.
However, Reuters reports that since the announcement of the planned merger, Euronav had clashed with its biggest shareholder Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), which tried to block it.
The merged company was expected to have a market capitalisation of more than $4 billion and the merger was supposed to generate synergies of at least $60 million a year.
