Call it the suezmax shuffle — a handful of crude tanker owners backed by private equity have been engaged in a behind-the-scenes mating dance aimed at cashing out investments, sources in the finance and tanker markets tell TradeWinds.

Each of the owners may be too small to launch a US initial public offering (IPO) on its own but that could all change if individually they are able to forge a combination with a like-size fleet and bring a larger flotation to the market.

Among