Golden Ocean Group  and CMB.TECH are pleased to announce that they have signed an agreement and plan of merger  for a stock-for-stock merger, as contemplated by the term sheet previously announced on 22 April 2025.

The transaction is structured as a merger, with Golden Ocean merging with and into CMB.TECH Bermuda Ltd. (“CMB.TECH Bermuda”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CMB.TECH, with CMB.TECH Bermuda as the surviving company (the “Merger”). In the framework of the Merger, each outstanding common share of Golden Ocean¹ will be cancelled and ultimately exchanged for newly issued CMB.TECH ordinary shares at an exchange ratio of 0.95 ordinary shares of CMB.TECH for each common share of Golden Ocean (the “Exchange Ratio”), subject to customary adjustments for events that may take place prior to completion of the Merger (including share buybacks, share issuances and/or dividend distributions). Upon completion of the Merger, CMB.TECH would issue approximately 95,952,934 new ordinary shares (the “Merger Consideration Shares”), assuming the Exchange Ratio is not adjusted.

The Merger will create one of the largest listed diversified maritime groups in the world with a combined fleet of approximately 250 vessels. More information can be found in the presentations on the CMB.TECH and Golden Ocean websites that were used during the Capital Markets Days held on 24 April and 29 April 2025.

Upon completion of the Merger, CMB.TECH shareholders would own approximately 70% (or 67% excluding treasury shares) of the total issued share capital of CMB.TECH and Golden Ocean shareholders would own approximately 30% (or 33% excluding treasury shares) of the total issued share capital of CMB.TECH, assuming the Exchange Ratio is not adjusted.

The Merger Agreement has been unanimously approved by CMB.TECH’s Supervisory Board and by Golden Ocean’s Board of Directors and its special transaction committee composed solely of disinterested directors of Golden Ocean’s Board of Directors (the “Transaction Committee”). As mentioned in the 22 April 2025 announcement, the Transaction Committee has received a fairness opinion from its financial advisor DNB Carnegie, part of DNB Bank ASA, concluding that the Exchange Ratio is fair to Golden Ocean’s shareholders from a financial point of view.

The consummation of the Merger remains subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, Golden Ocean shareholder approval, effectiveness of a registration statement on Form F-4 to be filed by CMB.TECH with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and obtaining approval for the listing of the Merger Consideration Shares on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”).

Upon completion of the Merger, Golden Ocean will delist from the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) and Euronext Oslo Børs. CMB.TECH will remain listed on the NYSE and Euronext Brussels and will pursue a secondary listing on Euronext Oslo Børs subject to completion of the Merger. CMB.TECH will prepare and publish an EU prospectus exempted document in connection with the admission to trading of the Merger Consideration Shares on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Oslo Børs.

Assuming timely fulfillment of the relevant closing conditions, the parties aim to complete the Merger in the third quarter of 2025

Advisors

Seward & Kissel LLP, Argo Law BV, Advokatfirmaet BAHR AS and Conyers Dill & Pearman Limited are acting as legal advisors to CMB.TECH. Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, ING Belgium SA/NV, KBC Securities NV and Société Générale are acting as financial advisors to CMB.TECH.

Seward & Kissel LLP, Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS, A&O Shearman LLP and MJM Limited are acting as legal advisors to Golden Ocean. DNB Carnegie, a part of DNB Bank ASA, is acting as financial advisor to Golden Ocean.