“We are very happy about keeping BW Pacific a private company,” he said.

BW has been working with DNB, Pareto and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) in the initial stages of what might result in BW having a third company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Uncertain timing

Some market players had thought that the BW Pacific listing would happen this autumn but this now looks questionable, although Mortensen insists “we are not temporising on this”.