World Shipholding Group News

Airline chief Stelios Haji-Ioannou's tanker company Stelmar has abandoned its bid for the First International fleet of clean tankers and is now reportedly considering those of Singapore-listed Osprey Maritime, Reuters reported. "Stelmar is looking at the Osprey ships, because the deal with First International is now looking too messy and too time-consuming," a New York-based source told Reuters. Stelmar's London office declined to comment. Shipping magnate John Fredriksen, whose World Shipholding Group holds a 54 percent stake in Osprey, announced in late December that he planned to sell off Osprey's 14 clean tankers to generate cash to invest in gas carriers. The source said that U.S.

Airline chief Stelios Haji-Ioannou's tanker company Stelmar has abandoned its bid for the First International fleet of clean tankers and is now reportedly considering those of Singapore-listed Osprey Maritime, Reuters reported. "Stelmar is looking at the Osprey ships, because the deal with First International is now looking too messy and too time-consuming," a New York-based source told Reuters. Stelmar's London office declined to comment. Shipping magnate John Fredriksen, whose World Shipholding Group holds a 54 percent stake in Osprey, announced in late December that he planned to sell off Osprey's 14 clean tankers to generate cash to invest in gas carriers. The source said that U.S.

Osprey Maritime Ltd., in the middle of being taken over by Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen, reported a sharp earnings turnaround on Wednesday, suggesting to analysts that Fredriksen had got a good bargain. The Singaporean energy transportation firm, which used to be controlled by a group of Indonesians including Bambang Trihatmodjo, son of former President Suharto, said it expected to report group attributable net profit for the whole year of at least $ 37 million. Last year it lost $191 million, mainly due to a hefty write-down in the value of its fleet of vessels at the bottom of the tanker cycle. Analysts said the profit forecast beat their expectations and showed that Osprey was enjoying a strong turnaround on the back of a rapid rise in tanker rates this year.

Oil transportation giant World Shipholding Group bought another 523,000 shares in Singapore's Osprey Maritime Ltd, marginally increasing its stake to 53.08 percent. In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, World Shipholding said the Osprey shares -- representing 0.155 percent of the energy transportation group -- were bought in the open market at $1 each. Osprey shares were unchanged at $0.99 when they were last traded on Monday. World Shipholding, amassed 52.93 percent in Osprey from various parties between August and November 28. On December 4, the group made a formal bid of $1 per share for the stake it did not already own after breaching Singapore's takeover trigger of 25 percent.

Osprey Maritime Ltd. agreed to sell 10 product tankers to Greek shipping company Stelmar Shipping Ltd. for $216 million. Osprey said that this is in line with its revised strategy of focusing on the ownership and operation of LNG carriers. Athens-based Stelmar was set up in 1992 by Haji-Ioannou, owner of cutprice airline easyJet. Separately, Osprey said it had also agreed to sell another tanker to U.S. OMI Corp. for $14 million. OMI will fund the purchase via cash of $7.7 million and an issue of 900,000 OMI shares at $7.00 each, which amounts to $6.3 million, Osprey said. Shipping magnate John Fredriksen, whose World Shipholding Group now holds a 91 percent stake in Osprey…

Airline chief Stelios Haji-Ioannou's tanker company Stelmar has agreed to pay $212.5 million for the bulk of the clean tanker fleet of Singapore-listed Osprey Maritime, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Neither company was able to comment. Brokers said Stelmar, set up in 1992 by Haji-Ioannou, owner of cut price airline easy Jet, will take four double-hulled 1990s-built tankers of 46,000 tons and six slightly older and smaller single-hulled vessels in a deal that will double Stelmar's fleet size. The deal is subject to final Stelmar board approval, they added. A spokesman at Stelmar's Greek office said that because it was seeking a stock market listing, the company was prevented from commenting. Osprey company officials were unavailable for comment. U.S.

Marine and chartering services provider Osprey Maritime Ltd said on Friday it will be de-listed from the Singapore Exchange on May 15 following its acquisition by World Shipholding Group owned by Norwegian magnate John Fredriksen. Company officials said that after a public tender, World Shipholding now owned about 98.6 percent of the firm's existing share capital and a de-listing was necessitated as it was not feasible to restore a minimal free float.