Overseas Shipholding Group to Aquire Stelmar Shipping

Published Dec 14, 2004 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

OSG, which is based in New York, will pay $48 per share in cash, an 8.3 percent premium, and will assume $457 million in debt for the Athens-based tanker company. Stelmar previously rejected offers from OMI Corp. and from Fortress Investment Group.

According to OSG's Chief Executive, Morten Arntzen, the purchase of Stelmar will make OSG the second largest publicly traded tanker company in terms of vessels, with 91 and the third largest in terms of deadweight tonnage, with 12.9 million.

Stelmar owns one of the world's largest product tanker fleets. OSG owns and operates 61 vessels, 22 of which are very large crude carriers that can transport 2 million barrels of crude oil.

OSG will receive 24 Handymax product tankers, 13 Panamax tankers, and 3 Aframaxes tankers, giving OSG a strong position in the crude oil and petroleum product markets. OSG will finance the purchase of Stelmar with cash and available credit. The deal is set to close next month.