Frontline may swoop on General Maritime with $1.8 billion bid

Frontline may swoop on General Maritime with $1.8 billion bid Scandinavia-based tanker shipping giant Frontline Ltd. has approached fellow tanker operator General Maritime Corp. about a merger or takeover.
   Given General Maritime’s market capitalization of $1.8 billion, a Frontline takeover would represent an enormous transaction by industry standards.
   New York-based General Maritime said Wednesday that Frontline officers recently contacted the company and indicated they have acquired an unspecified amount of its common stock. “They also expressed an interest in a business combination with the company; however no offer or proposal has been made,” General Maritime said.
   General Maritime said Wednesday it was not actively looking to sell the company or enter into a business combination, but “has always been and remains committed to exploring all opportunities that create value” for its shareholders.”
   The announcement lifted General Maritime’s stock price 12 percent to $49.21 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.
   Highly profitable Frontline, a company registered in Bermuda and listed on the NYSE, the Oslo Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, is the largest tanker-shipping group in the world, with a fleet of 31 “Suezmax” tankers and 35 very large crude carriers.
   Its approach to NYSE-listed General Maritime, which operates a fleet of 47 tankers, is the latest attempt to speed the consolidation of the tanker shipping industry by targeting public companies. In June, Stamford, Conn.-based tanker shipowner OMI Corp. withdrew an offer to merge with NYSE-listed Stelmar Shipping, based in Athens, Greece, after Stelmar’s rejection of its proposal and its decision not to discuss it. In November, stockholders of Stelmar Shipping rejected a $703 million takeover bid by Fortress Investment Group LLC, a New York-based investment firm.