2007

Tom Kjeldsberg Joins Double Hull Tankers – What it Means

FM understands that our friend Tom Kjeldsberg has recently departed DnB Nor in Oslo to join NYSE-listed Double Hull Tankers. We think this is a great hire by DHT, which, like Arlington Tankers, has not achieved any fleet growth since going public more than two years ago.

We believe that Double Hull’s decision to hire a shipping dealmaker is further evidence of the fact that in order for today’s public shipping companies to thrive, they must employ dealmakers who can proactively put accretive transactions together.While Peter Evensen at Teekay is probably the most high profile example of this syndrome, there are plenty of others. In fact, as more and more shipping companies come public, we think leading commercial shipping banks should be sure to take good care of their uber-bankers to ensure that they don’t get lured away by the prospect of stock option grants that are awarded to the management of public companies. While in the old days, the job of a CFO may have been to perform accounting and treasury functions, the most successful public companies today have evolved into a sort of merchant banking model where shareholder value is created by doing deals, not simply operating ships and accepting whatever the market brings. Moreover, good deals are no longer simply put into the market and bid on – in today’s environment a good CFO must have the skills to create transactions through a combination of asset procurement, employment and equity and debt financing, skills generally learned on the job at a financial institution.

This is only an excerpt of People & Places – 05/17/2007

Content is restricted to subscribers. To continue reading please Log-In or view our subscription options.