Limassol, Cyprus, March 4, 2025 - Hemen Holding Limited ("Hemen") today announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell 81,363,730 shares in Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ/OSE: GOGL) (the "Company" or "Golden Ocean") to CMB.TECH (NYSE: CMBT & Euronext: CMBT) ("CMB.TECH"), for a total consideration of approximately USD 1,179 million (the "Transaction"). The shares represent ca. 40.8%1 of Golden Ocean's outstanding shares and votes and includes all Hemen's shares in the Company.
The Transaction will not trigger a mandatory takeover bid or similar offer in Bermuda, Norway, the United States, or any other jurisdiction. The Transaction is exempt from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Christakis Theodoulou, Hemen, comments: "Hemen has been the driving force behind the development of Golden Ocean since the spin-off from Frontline in 2004 with subsequent listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange and later through the merger with Knightsbridge on NASDAQ. Through a series of successful acquisitions and purchases of new and secondhand vessels, Golden Ocean has since grown its fleet from 3 to 91 vessels, creating one of the largest listed owners of large size modern drybulk vessels, while at the same time returning value to its shareholders in the form of dividends. Golden Ocean has in total paid out USD ~2 billion of dividends since the spin-off from Frontline in 2004.
Hemen is now pleased to see that a renowned drybulk owner and operator with a rich history such as CMB.TECH recognizes the strength and the value of the Golden Ocean platform and its employees and has substantiated this through an acquisition of our shares".
The Transaction is not subject to any conditions, and completion is expected to take place on 12 March 2025.
DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, has acted as a financial advisor to Hemen. Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS has acted as legal advisor to Hemen.
1 Excluding treasury shares
