The shake-up at Golden Ocean Group Ltd continues with significant board changes after maritime group CMB.Tech NV announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Bermudian-based shipping company three weeks ago.

Two supervisory board members of CMB.Tech have been appointed directors of Golden Ocean as others step down.

Alexander Saverys’s CMB.Tech, through its Bermuda subsidiary, acquired John Fredriksen’s 40.8 per cent share of Golden Ocean, from Mr Fredriksen’s company, Hemen Holdings, for $1.2 billion.

CMB.Tech operates a fleet of more than 150 vessels, including crude oil tankers, dry-bulk vessels and container ships.

Mr Saverys said at the time: “The acquisition of the Golden Ocean shares from Hemen represents a significant milestone in CMB.Tech’s diversification strategy. We look forward to engaging with the board, management and employees of Golden Ocean and to build on Golden Ocean’s and Mr Fredriksen’s strong legacy to drive long-term growth and innovation”.

Mr Fredricksen was leading the Golden Ocean board departures, together with Ola Lorentzon, Ben Mills and Cato Stonex.

Joining the board are Patrick De Brabandere and Patrick Molis, both of whom serve on the supervisory board of CMB.Tech. The new board also includes James O’Shaughnessy and Tonesan Amissah.

The company said the directors looked forward to initiating conversations with the company's new reference shareholder.

Conversations are expected to include potential strategic options, commercial co-operation, operational and technical partnerships, and/or other forms of business combinations.

The transaction was said not to be subject to any conditions and was not expected to trigger a mandatory takeover bid or similar offer in Bermuda, Norway, the United States, or any other jurisdiction.

But Shipping Watch reported that not all shareholders were happy. The day after the announcement Golden Ocean stock closed down 16.4 per cent, buoyed by nearly 2 per cent two days later.

The acquisition was in line with CMB.Tech’s strategic objective of diversification, with the company intending to become a long-term shareholder in Golden Ocean and investing in a modern dry-bulk fleet.

Golden Ocean specialises in the transportation of dry-bulk cargoes. Its fleet comprises 91 vessels with a combined capacity of about 13.7 million deadweight tonnes.

CMB.Tech’s proactive approach includes plans to refinance all or parts of Golden Ocean's existing debt, with a bank syndicate already identified for this purpose.