Amid all the rhetoric and public posturing around the question of a formal merger between tanker owners Frontline and Euronav, a combination of the two companies looks likely to close by the end of March.

That’s the view of equity analysts at Deutsche Bank, who are recommending investors buy into Euronav now in anticipation of a beneficial shares exchange.

“Based on all available public information and recent events, we believe the combination of Frontline (FRO) and Euronav (EURN) will go through by the end of 1Q23,” wrote analysts Chris Robertson and Amit Mehrotra, mentioning each company’s ticker symbol.