John Fredriksen
John Fredriksen ( born May 11, 1944 in Etterstad in Oslo ) is a Norwegian- Cypriot billionaire financial investor. He owns the largest tanker fleet in the world and is about his company Marine Harvest the world's largest producer of farmed salmon.
Life
John Fredriksen was born on May 11, 1944 as the son of a welder and grew up in modest circumstances. He attended night school while he was working in a ship broker. Later Fredriksen launched in Germany. As a young broker he shipped cargoes of fresh fish from Iceland to Hamburg. Later he moved to the U.S. and Canada. In the late 1960s he started his oil - commitment. Fredriksen sold crude oil from Saudi Arabia and Iraq to the west.
In the mid 70s the oil trade to the oil crisis nearly collapsed to Fredriksen made independent in 1974; he bought a large number of vessels and launched its own tanker fleet, with nearly 90 ships is the largest in the world today.
The contacts in the Middle East maintains Fredriksen so good that it was during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq ( 1980-1988 ) one of the few merchants who supplied Iranian oil.
At the same time he himself remained rather far from the light of day. That he possessed ships, he never admitted, but referred to unnamed investors. "I was more secretive than it is today ," said Fredriksen. Even criticism that he had supported the apartheid regime in South Africa by oil supplies, he dismissed: The have done all Norwegian shipowner.
Company
Through his investment companies Hemen Holding ( Limassol, Cyprus) and Meisha Fredriksen controls the companies Frontline and Golar LNG. He also has equity interests in the oil rig operator SeaDrill (28%), the fish company Marine Harvest and the Golden Ocean Group. Fredriksen recently announced that he considered 9.6% of the world's biggest shipping company, the Overseas Shipholding Group.
TUI
Through his involvement with the German group TUI Fredriksen was also known in the German media. He urges Hapag -Lloyd to outsource from the TUI group, so that it can better benefit from the consolidation of the global container shipping.
Citizenship
He was the richest person in Norway until he was in May 2006 it decided after arguing with the Norwegian tax authorities to issue his passport and to adopt the citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus.
He said this in reference to the tax system and bureaucracy in Norway in an interview: " It is now almost impossible to do business in Norway ."
Private means
The U.S. magazine Forbes estimates Fredriksens private assets in 2012 to 11.3 billion dollars. He is ranked 75 of the richest people in the world.
Forbes compared Fredriksen in 2001 with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and said, " A tanker fleet bigger than anything Aristotle Onassis ever had" ( German: . A fleet bigger than anything Aristotle Onassis ever had )
Family
Fredriksen is widowed. The cancer death of his wife Inger Astrup (* 1950) called the end of 2006 in Norway great sympathy forth. The twin daughters Kathrine and Cecilie ( b. 1983 ) worked in Singapore from shipping business, and are now busy in his group. Fredriksen currently lives in London.
Film
- Salmon fever. Documentary, Germany, 2010, 43 min, written and directed by Wilfried Huisman and Arno Schumann, Production: Anaconda International Film, WDR, first broadcast March 10, 2010, movie information from Huisman.