US investment giant BlackRock has become the second biggest shareholder in John Fredriksen’s bulker company Golden Ocean Group. A filing to the Oslo Stock Exchange reveals the New York group has passed the 5% threshold on 5.07%, a slice worth $93m. Golden Ocean’s shares closed more than +2% at $9.20 in New York on Monday. They were trading at $16 in June.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management. The shareholding places it behind only Fredriksen himself, who controls 39% of the company. Norwegian state pension fund Folketrygdfondet has a 3.79% slice and investment bank Goldman Sachs has 3.37%.

Both BlackRock and Golden Ocean have been contacted for comment.

The investment comes at a time when bulker markets have been cooling. Fearnley Securities said capesize rates continue to be depressed but improved 12% on Monday to $6,300 per day. BlackRock is no stranger to shipping investments. The manager has a 2.67% stake in Fredriksen’s tanker company Frontline and 7.1% in US-listed bulker operator Genco Shipping & Trading.

And last year, BlackRock strengthened its position as one of UK shipbroker Clarksons’ biggest shareholders. According to a regulatory filing, the New York-based company increased its stake to 5.38% in the London-listed group on 30 November.

In July 2021, BlackRock had significantly reduced its stake in Irish product tanker owner Ardmore Shipping. The company sold nearly 1.7m shares, according to regulatory filings, whittling down its position from 2.2m shares to 495,717. According to Ardmore’s annual report, Blackrock was the company’s second-largest shareholder, with 6.6% of all shares and behind Aristotle Capital Boston’s 3.6m shares.

BlackRock also partnered Greek LNG carrier owner GasLog last year to take the company private. The Peter Livanos-backed shipping company closed a deal with BlackRock’s Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund that saw GasLog delisted in New York.