Concluding a lengthy negotiation, on the 19th of September the Boards of both LOF and Frontline Ltd (formerly Frontline AB, a Swedish Shipowning company recently registered in Bermuda) agreed to proceed with an amalgamation and jointly issued a Press Release announcing the merger on the 22nd of September.
Now why the word amalgamation was still in use at this particular part of the story I’m not really quite sure, because after agreeing to purchase 51% of London and Overseas Freighters Ltd surely takeover would have been more appropriate. It was accepted at the time that Frontline’s Chairman and CEO Mr. John Fredriksen had never envisaged a joint venture but desperately wanted to own the last three double skinned tankers which London and Overseas Freighters Ltd had recently taken delivery of. It also was believed that he wanted the LOF’s US stock listing and that he envisaged a large amount of goodwill passing to his own operation.
In any event the deed was completed on the 1st of November 1997,