Hemen Holding

"For a quarter billion Swedish kronor, Fredriksen's company Hemen Holding already owned 28 percent of the Frontline shares when they bid for the rest. The paralyzed Swedish management realized their fate: – We see that John Fredriksen has been successful, and in that sense we are positive that he will engage, said Frontline's CEO Kjell Jonson to the press. So it should sound! Jonson was rewarded with continuing in the CEO position. It was worse with Frontline's chairman, Sven H. Salen. Just a month later, Fredriksen took his private jet to Stockholm to throw the old leader out of the board. Then he took over the chairman position himself and brought along Tor Olav Trøim to the board. Thus, 20 percent of the entire Swedish tanker fleet disappeared out of the country."

"When Frontline bought Independent Tankers in May 1998, with ten tankers, from Bjørn Q. Aaserød, they acquired as much debt as steel. Quite precise, actually. The leverage was so high that Fredriksen gained control of the ten ships for only 9.5 million dollars in equity, while the value of all assets in ITC was one billion dollars. The problem for Frontline was that the debt ratio in the shipping company would become dangerously high if the fleet was taken into the balance sheet. With the miserable shipping market at the time, it could lead to problems with banks and loan agreements. A month later, the fleet is sold on to Fredriksen personally, through Hemen Holding, for the same price. In the report to the SEC for 1999, it states that Frontline got a five-year option to buy back the fleet. But Frontline does not use the option, instead, it is extended, and in the report submitted to the SEC in July 2005, it states that on July 1, 2003, Frontline bought an option from Hemen Holding to take over the Independent fleet. The price of the option and the shares was 14 million dollars, which Frontline utilized the following year."