Singapore's BW Group has built up a 43.5% stake in Denmark's Hafnia Tankers in what could be the precursor to a merger between the two companies.

BW Group has bought a 36.3% slice from core Hafnia investors Blackstone, Tufton Oceanic and Hartmann. The remaining shares were purchased in the open market.

Carsten Mortensen, chief executive of BW Group: said: "We see a good cultural fit between the organisations, as well as the opportunity to further integrate the fleets and provide even better service to customers in the product tanker markets."