Cypriot billionaire John Fredriksen's family-backed tanker firm buys rival for $370 million

International Seaways Inc., the New York-listed tanker company whose largest shareholder is a group of trusts set up by Norwegian-born Cypriot shipping billionaire John Fredriksen, has agreed to buy Oslo-listed Bruton Ltd. in a deal that values the supertanker owner at about $370 million.

The mostly stock transaction, announced on Friday, gives International Seaways Bruton's four very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, each able to carry about 2 million barrels of oil. Bruton is backed by Norwegian investor Tor Olav Troim, Fredriksen's business partner for nearly two decades before the two men parted ways in 2014.

Trusts that Fredriksen established for his immediate family own 6,704,304 International Seaways shares, or 13.54% of the company, according to a Schedule 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated Oct. 8. The shares are held through Cyprus-registered Famatown Finance Ltd. and Greenwich Holdings Ltd., with Jersey-based C.K. Ltd. acting as trustee. Fredriksen is neither a beneficiary nor a trustee and has said in filings that he has no economic interest in the shares.

Terms of the deal

Bruton shareholders holding about 50.5% of the company, including Troim's Drew Holdings and Koch Inc., have agreed to swap their shares for new International Seaways stock at a ratio of 0.0519 Seaways shares for each Bruton share. That first step is expected to settle around Oct. 20.

International Seaways will acquire the rest of Bruton through a merger. Holders of more than 10,000 Bruton shares will receive stock on the same terms, while smaller holders will be paid $6.3044 a share in cash, according to a filing with the SEC. Seaways expects to issue about 3.12 million new shares, covering roughly 96% of the total consideration. Bruton's board unanimously backed the deal, and a shareholder vote is expected around Oct. 30, with completion soon after. Bruton plans to delist from Euronext Growth Oslo once the deal closes.

"We're excited about the opportunity to expand and modernize our fleet through this accretive transaction with Bruton," said Lois Zabrocky, president and chief executive officer of International Seaways.

The fleet includes the Mount Vision, an LNG dual-fuel VLCC that entered service in July on a charter of three years plus two one-year options with a trading house, and the Mount Horizon, due from China's New Times Shipbuilding next month on a 12- to 15-month charter at $105,700 a day. Two more ships, the Mount Frontier and the Mount Summit, are scheduled for delivery in August and October 2027 and have no charters yet.

The cash terms imply a value of about $121 for each International Seaways share. On that basis, the stake held by the Fredriksen family trusts is worth about $815 million. The new shares issued for Bruton will dilute the trusts' holding to about 12.7%, based on the 49.5 million shares Seaways had outstanding in August.

A long-running position

The trusts have been trimming their position this year. They held 7,810,494 shares, or 15.8% of the company, in a filing made in March, and 7,254,022 shares, or 14.65%, in May, according to SEC filings that list open-market transactions.

Famatown first built a stake of about 16% in International Seaways through open-market purchases in April 2022, at a time when Fredriksen was fighting the Belgian Saverys family for control of tanker owner Euronav. International Seaways responded by adopting a shareholder rights plan, a defense that would dilute any investor whose holding passed 17.5%. Fredriksen later failed in a bid to persuade shareholders to block the plan and to vote out two directors, including Zabrocky. In its 2026 proxy statement, International Seaways still described Famatown as its largest stockholder and asked investors to ratify an amended version of the rights agreement.

The 82-year-old Fredriksen built his fortune in oil tankers through Frontline and now controls interests across shipping, offshore drilling and seafood through his Seatankers group. Forbes put his net worth at more than $20 billion on its 2026 billionaires list.

The deal comes as supertanker earnings surge. International Seaways said its fleet earned an average of about $68,000 a day on the spot market in the third quarter, up from $29,000 a year earlier, and that it had fixed about 37% of its expected fourth-quarter days at around $180,000 a day. The company expects third-quarter net income of $340 million to $350 million, including a gain of about $50 million from the sale of a Suezmax tanker, and had about $965 million of liquidity at the end of September. It plans to report full results on Nov. 5.