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 Seadrill is an offshore drilling contractor providing worldwide offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industry. Its primary business is the ownership and operation of drillships, semi-submersible rigs, and jack-up rigs for operations in ...

, the

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

company Mowi, and the dry bulk company

Golden Ocean Group Golden Ocean Group Limited is a Bermuda-registered, Norway, Norway- based dry bulk shipping company. The company was created as a demerger, demerged part of Frontline Ltd, Frontline in 2004 and is listed on Nasdaq and the Oslo Stock Exchange. 39 ...

. 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. Born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway, Fredriksen is now a naturalised Cypriot citizen. Before abandoning his Norwegian citizenship, he was Norway's richest man. Norwegian magazine '' Kapital'' listed Fredriksen in 2013 with a net worth of

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

253 billion (23,3 billion). In 2012, he was included in the 50 Most Influential list of

Bloomberg Markets ''Bloomberg Markets'' is a magazine published six times a year by Bloomberg L.P. as part of Bloomberg News. Aimed at global financial professionals, ''Bloomberg Markets'' publishes articles on the people and issues related to global financial m ...

Magazine. He was named in the top 10 most influential people in the shipping industry according to Lloyds List 2014.

Early and personal life

Fredriksen was born on 10 May 1944 to a welder and his wife, and grew up in

Etterstad Etterstad () is a neighborhood in Oslo, located between the river Alna and Strømsveien, north of Vålerenga. It was incorporated into Oslo in 1946, two years before the merger of Oslo and Aker. The area is mainly residential. History The ar ...

, in the eastern half of

. 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.

Career

Business

Frederiksen first got into oil trading in the 1960s in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, before buying his first tankers in the 1970s. He made his fortune during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

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 Ayatollah (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most di ...

." 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. In 2006, Seadrill bought more than 50 percent of

Smedvig Smedvig ASA, ("Smedvig"), ( OSE: SME, NYSE: SMVA) was a Norwegian offshore oil rig company headquartered in Stavanger until it was acquired (January 2006) by rig newcomer SeaDrill of tanker mogul John Fredriksen. At time of the merger Smedvig o ...

, 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. Fredriksen has been the majority owner of Vålerenga I.F. for many years.

Fortune

The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

'' has ranked Fredriksen's wealth as £475m (2003), £1.050b (2004), £1.887b (2005), £8.311b (2023). In 2012, Fredriksen and his family were listed as the 9th richest in Britain with a combined wealth of £6.6bn. Fredriksen owns houses in London, Oslo, Cyprus, and

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

, Spain. His house The Old Rectory in London has been estimated to be worth around US$172 million. He is a collector of classic Norwegian art.

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.

''Gard'' case

In 1985, the Norwegian insurance company

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;bunker fuel Heavy fuel oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO contains sev ...

was revealed. 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. 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 for risking his crew's lives, and in addition had to pay the insurance company Gard an amount of over 800,000.«Fredriksen aksepterte å betale Gard 800,000-dollar, pluss halvparten av den Marine Management-konto de hadde tatt beslag i.», fra Storeulv, side 160

References

Literature

* Hauge, Odd Harald and Gunnar Stavrum. ''Storeulv, en uautorisert biografi om John Fredriksen''. Oslo: Gyldendal, 2005. . Print. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fredriksen, John 1944 births Cypriot billionaires 20th-century Cypriot businesspeople Living people Norwegian businesspeople in shipping Norwegian emigrants to Cyprus Businesspeople from Oslo Norwegian people of Danish descent Cypriot people of Norwegian descent Naturalized citizens of Cyprus People who lost Norwegian citizenship