Fredriksen sells shares in Seadrill - to pursue other opportunities?

A flagging from Seadrill limited (OSE: SDRL, NYSE: SDRL) explained that Hemen Holding Limited, a company controlled by Chairman John Fredriksen's family, concluded the planned sale of 24 million shares of Seadrill combined with 24 million put options to de-risk the move, in a transaction with Goldman Sachs International which is handling counter-party matching. The combined price of a share and a put option was 236.3176, making the transaction worth 5,664 million NOK (about 1 billion USD).

It was explained that at a market value of 5.6 billion USD, the Seadrill holding had grown disproportionally large part in Fredriksen Group's investment portfolio of listed companies (some 68%). The group plans to diversify its portfolio and give sufficient liquidity to aggressively pursue investment opportunities in the commodity shipping market. These might include buying distressed companies, ordering new ship or nidustry consolidation transaction.

Should all the put options be exercised in physical delivery at maturity, Hemen’s position would naturally remain at 28%. Seadrill retreated over 3% down to 223 NOK as investors contemplated the implications of a potentially lessened focus on the company by its Chairman.