NOL CONSIDERS POTENTIAL SALE OF TANKER BUSINESS

NOL CONSIDERS POTENTIAL SALE OF TANKER BUSINESS    Neptune Orient Lines, the Singapore-based shipping group, said it has received offers from parties interested in purchasing its tanker division, American Eagle Tankers.
   Neptune Orient Lines will undertake “a strategic review of its investment in that division,” the group said.
   “We had a good response from the market to our proposed listing of American Eagle Tankers last year, and only withdrew when the market dipped at that time,” said Flemming Jacobs, group president and chief executive officer of Neptune Orient Lines. “Since then, parties interested in purchasing AET have approached us on a number of occasions.”
   American Eagle Tankers is a profitable business within Neptune Orient Lines, a container shipping, logistics and tanker-shipping group that is not profitable overall.
   Jacobs said the review of the future of American Eagle Tankers would assess a range of alternatives, including maintaining the status quo, a possible sale, merger, joint venture, initial public offering or other transaction. NOL expects to complete the review within six months.