Euronav and Maersk confirmed the $980m pact in statements issued on Sunday, almost a week after TradeWinds broke news the Belgian owner was poised to take the tankers.

Marc Saverys and Peter Livanos-led Euronav says the 15 VLCCs will join the Tankers International pool, where its existing fleet of 11 VLCCs trades.

This means a second high profile departure from the giant Nova Tankers pool, which Maersk co-founded a couple of years ago, after the exit of Ocean Tankers in late 2013.

Maersk says the disposal of the VLCCs fits a plan to concentrate on the products tanker market, where it has recently ordered newbuildings.

The fleet sale will lead to the loss of a number of seafaring and office jobs at the Danish giant. However, it says efforts are underway to keep redundancies to a minimum.

Morten Engelstoft, CEO of Maersk Tankers, said in the statement: “Last year we disclosed our intention to reduce our exposure to the VLCC market and focus on the products segment going forward.

“Euronav has now presented us with a deal that supports that strategy.”

Euronav climbs table

The deal will take Euronav’s VLCC fleet to 26, making it the fifth largest VLCC owner in the world. It was previously 20th.

Analysts say the swoop also makes Euronav the largest publicly-listed pure play crude tanker owner in the world.

While details relating to the financing of the takeover will be revealed later, it does come only a few weeks after Euronav teamed up with GoldenTree Asset Management and York Capital and revealed plans to list in New York.

“The outlook for the large crude tanker market has improved significantly over the last months indicating a resurgence of demand and an improved near term outlook.” Euronav said.

“Euronav considers the acquisition as a first step towards a wider consolidation of the world tanker fleet, with the concurrent benefits of synergy and logistical enhancement to the benefit of all stakeholders.”

RMK Maritime, an independent maritime advisory firm based in London and New York, advised Euronav on the deal.

Georgiopoulos disappointed

Euronav’s move is a blow for Georgiopoulos who has been linked with the ships since August and was tipped on several occasions to be close to reaching a firm agreement.

Just a couple of weeks ago Genmar closed a $200m infusion of new equity from majority owner Oaktree Capital and from a collection of Wall Street institutional investors.

Industry chatter over Christmas was that the long pursuit had failed and Euronav, with its reinforced balance sheet, had stepped in. On Friday it emerged the VLCCs were on subs to the Belgian company.

Euronav is no stranger to $1bn deals, as Livanos sold his tanker fleet to Euronav in a cash plus shares trade in 2005.