The merger between Hafnia Tankers and BW Tankers is now almost done. On Thursday, Hafnia Tankers' shareholders approved the merger at an extraordinary general assembly in Malmö.

This means that management, headed by CEO Mikael Skov and Chairman Andreas Sohmen-Pao, who also chairs BW Group, can now start the process of integrating the two shipping companies.

"The completion of the Merger is expected to take place in January 2019, subject to certain conditions being fulfilled," says Hafnia Tankers in a stock exchange notice.

The two product tanker shipping companies have been working on a merger since BW Tankers bought a stake in Hafnia Tankers last fall.

Once the merger is completed, the new, combined shipping company will have a fleet of 86 product tankers, the world's largest fleet in its segment.

The merged company will be named Hafnia and will be registered in Bermuda, while management will be based in Singapore. Ownership of the new company will be distributed with 42.8 percent of the shares held by Hafnia's shareholders and 57.2 percent to BW Tankers' shareholders.

At first, the company will remain listed on the small N-OTC exchange in Norway, but the plan is to, in time, list the company on a bigger exchange.

However, during the first 12 months, the top priority will be to ensure that the entire organization works from day one, said Skov in an interview with ShippingWatch between Christmas and New Year's.

"It's a matter of integrating the culture and values that we want going forward, and to set the strategic outline. Those are some of the things we'll be looking at right away," he said.

English Edit: Daniel Logan Berg-Munch

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