Pareto

"The old feuds with former drinking buddies and friends were history, a new court was in place. At the forefront was none other than Little Wolf, Tor Olav Trøim, who was never far away. Just as loyal, and apparently always in the shipowner's favor, was Nordea's Calle Steen, the man who had conjured up a loan of one and a half billion during the banking crisis ten years earlier. Among brokers, many would like to be in the inner circle of the court, but undoubtedly, one finds the brokerage firm Platou there. They were the world's leading ship brokerage firm in the early 70s along with British Clarkson but fell to mediocrity in Norway. The contact with Fredriksen brought the firm back towards old heights and record results, thanks to the socially intelligent chief Peter Anker and the experienced broker Wilhelm Holst. In stocks, Fearnley and their Harald Moræus Hansen are never far away. They have been good at finding undervalued shipping stocks worldwide, especially in Asia. With the great interest in offshore, eventually Pareto entered the innermost circle, their Stein Schie being for many years John Fredriksen's court broker on the offshore sector when he worked at the company Normarine Offshore, and he brought the client into Pareto. Fredriksen still has some of his old friends, such as Petter Olsen and Petter Thorendal. But with limited time in Norway, it can only be sporadic contact; business and family take all the time. And after all, it has been twenty-five years since he moved from the country. Both geographical distance and tens of billions in economic distance tend to create distance."

"However, Fredriksen was encouraged by his surroundings. The court brokers at Pareto did their utmost to get the world's most decisive shipping man out of his mental moorings and fully into the rig market. At a meeting in Amsterdam on February 9, Fredriksen, Trøim, and brokers from Pareto discussed the entire situation for the group. In a summarizing email the day after, Stein Schie wrote to Fredriksen that he was not where things were happening at the time; "this is the market that is set to boom, and you are not in it." He admitted that Fredriksen had indeed made a couple of hundred million dollars on Northern Offshore, and that the Russian rigs were a steal, but it was too insignificant. Particularly because they missed the opportunity to take over the rig company TODCO. Schie recommended a much more aggressive strategy. Fredriksen should buy into the American giant Pride, as one of the main shareholders, First Reserve, was about to sell out. Once inside, it opened up many opportunities. The other important recommendation was to order four new jack-up rigs in Singapore. Financing was no problem, Schie had seen in a private email that the FELS-yard in Singapore offered full financing to Danish Maersk. Fredriksen should receive the same."

"Essentially, Fredriksen and Trøim agreed on the recommendations from their most important brokerage connection. The race was on, and Pareto would hold their hands throughout. In May, just three months later, the investor market was introduced to SeaDrill, Fredriksen's new major venture. In addition to three worn drill rigs, the company comprised the two floating production ships "Crystal Sea" and "Crystal Ocean". It was only mentioned in a footnote in the first prospectus that SeaDrill did not own, but had the option to purchase the ships. The owner was Fredriksen-controlled Active Capital, the debt collection agency that benefitted from the enormous tax deductions associated with the ships when they were picked up from the failed Brøvig company Crystal Productions. Now, the ships were ready for a new round in the Fredriksen family of companies. Half of Norway wanted to subscribe for shares, and Trøim had to diligently cross off names on the subscription list. Just days after the allotment, the price had almost doubled. No one wanted to miss out on a new Frontline. The information was scarce; the brokers had some blurry photos of rigs with Russian names, there were two production ships and a couple of construction contracts. Based on this, ambitious financial projections were made for the coming years."