Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) acted as maritime counsel to Euronav in its US$1.150bn share purchase agreement for the acquisition of cleantech maritime group CMB.TECH, the clean technology arm of its largest shareholder Compagnie Maritime Belge (“CMB”).
The purchase is part of Euronav’s renewed diversification and decarbonisation strategy and the accelerated optimisation of its current crude oil tanker fleet.
Euronav is a Belgian international shipping company which focusses on oil transport by sea. It is the largest NYSE listed independent crude oil tanker company in the world and is considered a major independent global oil shipping firm.
CMB.TECH is a diversified maritime cleantech firm that builds, owns, operates and designs hydrogen and ammonia-fuelled engines. It is also involved in the production of hydrogen and ammonia fuel.
The WFW London team that team advised Euronav was led by Asset and Structured Finance Partner Kate Silverstein and Maritime Partner Toby Royal.
Kate commented: “We are delighted to have advised Euronav on this vital transaction that will play a key role in enabling them to create a future-proof shipping platform to take part in the maritime industry’s energy transition and lead the way in the use of low-carbon tanker shipping services”.
