John Fredriksen

John Fredriksen (born 10 May 1944) is a Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping billionaire businessman based in London. He owns the world's largest oil tanker fleet and has major interests in the offshore driller Seadrill, the fish farming company Mowi, and the dry bulk company Golden Ocean Group. Through his investment companies Hemen Holdings and Meisha, Fredriksen controls the companies Frontline, Avance Gas Holding Ltd. and Flex LNG Ltd. In 2010–2011, Frontline owned 9.6 percent of another large tanker company, Overseas Shipholding Group.<ref>Bjørn Haugan, Johann D. Sundberg, Lars Magne Sunnanå: Flytter for døtrene (E24. 11 May 2006) [1]</ref>

Born in Oslo, Norway, Fredriksen is now a naturalised Cypriot citizen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Before renouncing his Norwegian citizenship in 2007, he was Norway's richest man.<ref>De Lange, Grete. Norway's richest man no longer Template:Webarchive (Aftenposten. 11 May 2006)</ref> Norwegian magazine Kapital listed Fredriksen in 2013 with a net worth of NOK 253 billion (Template:US$23,3 billion).<ref name="Forbes">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Hegnar">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2012, he was included in the 50 Most Influential list of Bloomberg Markets Magazine. He was named in the top 10 most influential people in the shipping industry according to Lloyds List 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early and personal life

Fredriksen was born on 10 May 1944 to a welder and his wife, and grew up in Etterstad, in the eastern half of Oslo.Template:Citation needed

Fredriksen is a widower and has two twin daughters (born 1983): Cecilie and Kathrine Astrup Fredriksen. Fredriksen's late wife, dentist Inger Astrup Fredriksen (died 2006), originally belonged to one of the Astrup families in Norway. Her father was a professor of psychiatry, and her grand uncle was the painter Nikolai Astrup.Template:Citation needed

Career

Business

Frederiksen first got into oil trading in the 1960s in Beirut, Lebanon, before buying his first tankers in the 1970s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He made his fortune during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, when his tankers picked up oil at great risk and huge profits. As described by his biographer, "he was the lifeline to the Ayatollah." Fredriksen would later become the world's largest tanker owner, with more than seventy oil tankers and major interests in oil rigs and fish farming. His fleet is dominated by costly double-hulled, environmentally safer tankers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2006, Seadrill bought more than 50 percent of Smedvig, gaining control of the company (51.24 percent of the votes and 52.27 percent of the capital). Smedvig is Fredriksen's biggest ever deal. Noble Corp sold its stake to Seadrill in 2009, leaving Seadrill with full control.<ref>Nina Berglund Smedvig now fully under Fredriksen's control Template:Webarchive Aftenposten; 3 April 2006</ref> Fredriksen has been the majority owner of Vålerenga I.F. for many years.Template:Citation needed

Fortune

The Sunday Times Rich List has ranked Fredriksen's wealth as £475m (2003), £1.050b (2004), £1.887b (2005), £8.311b (2023).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2012, Fredriksen and his family were listed as the 9th richest in Britain with a combined wealth of £6.6bn.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fredriksen owns houses in London, Oslo, Cyprus, and Marbella, Spain. His house The Old Rectory in London has been estimated to be worth around US$172 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is a collector of classic Norwegian art.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Philanthropy

Fredriksen claims to support research projects at The Radium Hospital and to have donated several hundreds of millions of Norwegian kroner to medical research at hospitals in Norway.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gard case

In 1985, the Norwegian insurance company Gard became suspicious about losses of cargo from Fredriksen's tankers. A private investigation was initiated, and a system for the use of heavy oil as bunker fuel was revealed.<ref>«For Oslo-advokatene ble Gisvolds reise slutten på den hemmelige etterforskningen. Man hadde nok, og dessuten var det nå bare et tidsspørsmål før Fredriksen fikk kjennskap til granskningen. Følgelig torde man ikke holde på lenger. Juristene anbefalte Gard å gå til politiet med sine mistanker.», fra Storeulv, side 106</ref> The case was turned over to the Norwegian police and in June 1986 Fredriksen's offices in Oslo were searched and several of his nearest associates, and after a while also Fredriksen, were placed in detention while the case was investigated.<ref>«Samme morgen ble de seks arresterte fremstilt for Oslo forhørsrett. Siktelsen var grove oljetyverier og forsikringssvindel for cirka en million kroner.», fra Storeulv, side 125</ref>

After several years of arguments between the various lawyers, the case was settled out of court. Fredriksen had to pay a fine of 2 million NOK<ref>«John Fredriksen måtte i 1990 godta en bot på to millioner kroner for å ha satt mannskapenes liv i fare ved å bruke olje fra lasten som drivstoff.», fra Storeulv, side 168</ref> for risking his crew's lives, and in addition had to pay the insurance company Gard an amount of over Template:US$800,000.<ref>«Fredriksen aksepterte å betale Gard 800,000-dollar, pluss halvparten av den Marine Management-konto de hadde tatt beslag i.», fra Storeulv, side 160</ref>

Literature

• Hauge, Odd Harald and Gunnar Stavrum. Storeulv, en uautorisert biografi om John Fredriksen. Oslo: Gyldendal, 2005. Template:ISBN. Print.