Norway’s Siem Offshore is no more. It has changed its name to Sea1 Offshore to mark the exit of major backer Kristian Siem.
The Norwegian tycoon agreed to leave and sell his leading stake in April, buying nine offshore vessels from the company for his Siem Sustainable Energy.
Fellow magnate Christen Sveaas, also the owner of Western Bulk through his Kistefos company, is now the chairman and biggest shareholder after buying Siem’s stock.
An Oslo stock exchange filing said the name has been changed in the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies following the annual general meeting on 7 May.
The Siem prefix will be removed from the group’s vessels and subsidiaries’ ships as dry-dockings take place.
And the share’s ticker will shortly be changed from Sioff to Sea1.
In his exit note, Siem said he and Sveaas had “different values, culture and objectives”.
“My job is completed, and I hand over to other owners,” he said in April. “My hope is that the new leadership will stay on a steady course and I wish the company and all my past colleagues well.”
At the AGM, Fredrik Platou and Orjan Svanevik joined the board and Celina Midelfart was re-elected.
Platou is chief executive of the Blystad Group. Svanevik is interim chief executive of bulker operator Western Bulk.
Sveaas’ offshore influence growing
Before the deal, Kristian Siem’s Siem Sustainable Energy had a stake in Siem Offshore nearing 35%, followed by Kistefos’ 33.3% position taken in March 2022.
Kistefos controls 80% of Sweden-registered Viking Supply Ships, an anchor handling tug supply vessel specialist, plus a holding in Solstad Offshore.
The investment company has threatened legal action against Solstad over the NOK 13.2bn ($1.2bn) refinancing deal in which Kjell Inge Rokke’s Aker Capital took a 57% stake.
Kistefos alleges it attempted to negotiate a different agreement, but Solstad Offshore disputed that in a letter to shareholders, arguing that it reached out twice on the status of vessels.
