Oaktree Trims Torm Stake as Hafnia Steps In

Oaktree sold 9 million Torm Class A shares for about USD 290.25 million, while Hafnia bought 4.5 million shares, raising its stake to 18.19%.

A pair of opposing block trades has redrawn the ownership map at Danish tanker operator Torm, with a long-standing major holder cutting its position while a rival shipowner moved aggressively in the other direction.

The catalyst was a secondary placement of Class A shares by OCM Njord Holdings S.à r.l., a vehicle managed by Oaktree. The entity offloaded 9,000,000 shares, generating gross proceeds of roughly USD 290.25 million. Torm issued no new stock in the process and therefore collected none of the cash.

Underwriters were granted a 30-day option to pick up as many as 1,350,000 additional shares. Once the placement settled, OCM Njord's holding stood at 11,329,874 Class A shares, equal to about 11.06 percent of capital and voting rights, according to a notification dated September 14.

Hafnia Builds a Larger Footprint

On the other side of the trade, Hafnia Limited agreed to acquire 4,500,000 Torm Class A shares at USD 32.25 apiece, lifting its total holding to 18,656,061 shares. Torm confirmed Friday that Hafnia's stake now represents roughly 18.19 percent of both the issued share capital and the voting rights. Within just a few trading sessions, the balance of power among the company's largest investors had shifted fundamentally.

The stock came under pressure as the reshuffling played out. Shares closed Monday at EUR 32.48, a decline of 2.5 percent, after giving up 5.7 percent to EUR 30.52 in an earlier session. Even so, the equity remains within striking distance of its 52-week high of EUR 33.60, set on September 18 — a gap of only 3.3 percent — and is up 79 percent since the start of the year.

Management Transactions and Capital Adjustments

Changes also rippled through the executive ranks. Chief Financial Officer Kim Balle converted 42,533 restricted stock units into ordinary shares on Thursday, leaving 382,700 RSUs in his account.

Torm then disclosed Friday that it had raised its share capital by 132,421 Class A shares following the exercise of employee share rights. That move came on top of an earlier increase of 31,483 shares on September 11 for the same reason. The company's total share capital now stands at USD 1,025,536.88, divided into 102,553,688 Class A shares with a nominal value of USD 0.01 each.

The ownership shake-up lands roughly a month after Torm posted strong second-quarter figures that paved the way for a hefty payout. The interim dividend for the second quarter of 2026 is set at USD 2.40 per share. The ex-dividend date on Nasdaq Copenhagen has already passed, on September 9, with entitlement fixed as of the record date of September 10. Payment to eligible shareholders is scheduled for September 24.

With the block trades now complete, attention turns to how Torm's strategic direction may evolve under Hafnia's enlarged presence on the register.