Hafnia buying Oaktree’s Chemical Tankers Inc

Hafnia and CTI have entered into a share purchase agreement which will see the BW Group company acquiring all the outstanding shares in CTI. CTI’s shareholders will receive shares in Hafnia representing 21.5% of the combined companies, with Oaktree having a 20.4% stake.

The transaction will boost Hafnia’s fleet with six, 49,000 dwt MR tankers, eighteen, 38,000 dwt handy tankers, and eight, 25,000 dwt tankers. In particular Hafnia sees the acquisition as complimenting its activities in the MR and handy sectors.

"The addition of the CTI fleet will help enhance our resilience in the face of volatile markets and create a more sustainable and future-proof transportation business that will include the ability to transport methanol, in addition to many other cargoes,” said Mikael Skov, CEO of Hafnia.

The latest acquisition by Hafnia sees the Andreas Sohmen-Pao led BW Group continuing its strategy of being a consolidator in the sectors in which it operates.

It will make Hafnia the world’s largest operator in the product and chemical tanker sector with a fleet of 223 tankers. Its owned and chartered in fleet will grow to 133 product and chemical tankers.

Guillaume Bayol, Managing Director of Oaktree, commented: It will allow CTI shareholders to benefit from the scale and commercial capabilities of Hafnia, while enabling Hafnia to expand its platform with a sizeable and young ECO design IMO II product/chemical tanker fleet.

Related:Hafnia orders LNG-powered tanker pair at Guangzhou Shipyard

“The addition of the CTI fleet brings with it new trading capabilities which, combined with Hafnia’s existing fleet and platform, will enhance the combined group earnings generation.”

The deal is subject to consent or waivers from some of CTI's existing financiers and is expected to close before 1 February 2022.