(Bloomberg) ? Frontline Ltd.?s largest shareholder, John Fredriksen, sold about 12 percent of the oil-tanker owner to institutional investors in the US and UK for 2.36 billion kroner ($344 million) after the stock reached record highs.

Hemen Holdings Ltd., Fredriksen?s investment vehicle, still controls Bermuda-based Frontline with a 35 percent stake, said Michael Thompson, a broker at Nordic Partners in New York, which handled the share sale. Fredriksen may invest the proceeds in other shipping companies, Thompson said.

?Fredriksen is not going to keep the money in the bank,? Thompson, who declined to identify any potential investments, said in a telephone interview. ?His strengths lie in the shipping industry, where he likes to get his fingers in different pies.?

Shares of Frontline, the world?s largest owner of 2 million- barrel oil tankers, have surged sixfold in the past two years as oil producers boosted output to meet rising demand from China and the US Fredriksen, 60, took control of Frontline, formerly based in Sweden, in 1996 and built its fleet through acquisitions. Fredriksen is now Norway?s wealthiest individual, according to Forbes magazine, with a fortune estimated in February at $1.9 billion. Hemen, based in Cyprus, sold 9 million Frontline shares for 262 kroner each, 6 kroner less than yesterday?s closing price, Thompson said.

?This sale is not necessarily an indication that he wants to get out of the tanker business,? Thompson said.

?We are still very bullish about this segment and the fourth quarter is going to be very exciting.?

Frontline had 74.4 million shares outstanding as of June 30. They reached a record 277 kroner in Oslo yesterday, topping Friday?s previous high of 275.50 kroner. Frontline closed up 6 kroner, or 2.2 percent, to 274 kroner in Oslo, giving a market value of 20.4 billion kroner ($2.95 billion).

Fredriksen doubled his stake in Royal P&O Nedlloyd NV, the world?s fourth-largest container shipper, to 10 percent this month, Aftenposten newspaper reported, citing Tor Olav Troim, a director of several companies controlled by Fredriksen.

Troim, who is travelling in the US, didn?t immediately return a message left on his voice mail by Bloomberg News.

Frontline and Teekay Shipping Corp., the biggest tanker company by market value, are set to report a second year of record profits. Frontline on August 19 said second-quarter net income rose 9.1 percent to $169.2 million, or $2.29 a share.

The company in June gave shareholders about 25 percent of its Ship Finance International unit and began offering the shares on the New York Stock Exchange, seeking to get a higher combined value for the two businesses. Shares of Ship Finance have climbed 47 percent since trading began June 14, putting its market value at $1.32 billion. Frontline gave another 10 percent of Ship Finance to shareholders this month. Ship Finance raised $1.63 billion from bond sales and bank loans to buy tankers from its parent, which is leasing them back at a fixed rate.