The Saverys family has reached a pivotal 25% stake in tanker owner Euronav, sealing its ability to block a standard merger between the Belgian company and John Fredriksen’s Frontline.

Saverys entities have purchased a further 2.04m Euronav shares for just under $39m since its last public filing at 6 December revealed it had accumulated a 23.9% stake.

They now hold 50.45m