Dagsaktuell vurdering fra Arctic:
Dorian LPG among top 20 shareholders in Avance Gas
In an updated shareholder list on Avance Gas’ website, Dorian LPG is listed as the 14th largest shareholder of the company. Dorian has not disclosed anything in relation to the acquisition, but with a total holding of ~807k shares, Dorian controls 1.25% of the outstanding shares (up ~200k shares from yesterday). As such, Dorian is the second VLGC peer to buy shares in Avance Gas in the past month. In December, BW LPG announced that it had acquired 5.9m shares, equivalent to 9.14% of shares and voting rights.
The updated list, however, reveals that BWLPG’s current position is ~5.5m shares, or 8.5%, meaning that BW LPG has sold ~400k shares (BW LPG is still the second largest shareholder). With ~15.7m shares, Hemen Holding is the largest shareholder.
Although BW LPG has stated that the holding in Avance is a financial holding for now, it has not been trying to conceal that consolidation is of interest. The Fredriksen Group, on the other hand, has gone a long way in rejecting the idea of a merger with BW LPG, and highlighted that growth and fleet renewal would be in focus (Avance has even announced an order of 2x dual fuel VLGCs since BW LPG disclosed its shareholding).
We obviously don’t know anything about Dorian’s intentions, however, we would expect a similar response if consolidation is on the minds of the Dorian decision makers. As such, we expect that Dorian’s holding in Avance will be a financial investment (a profitable one given our view on the market).
Nonetheless, the Avance Gas shareholder list is a very interesting read at the moment, and we find it encouraging that Avance’s two main listed peers consider the valuation so attractive that they are buying shares (in line with our view). We will continue to monitor the situation.
