NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd., the world?s biggest oil-tanker company by capacity, raised its stake in General Maritime Corp. and said it would take steps to begin talks on a business combination, moving closer to a takeover.

Frontline bought 3.76 million shares in General Maritime for $139 million between September 21 and November 30, according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company holds a total of 3.86 million shares, or ten percent, the filing said.

Frontline plans to start talks on a business linkup ?in the near term?, according to the filing.

A takeover of General Maritime would be the biggest ever in the oil-tanker industry, based on today?s valuations. Frontline, controlled by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen, 61, bought an initial stake in New York-based General Maritime a year ago, and later raised the holding saying it may bid for the rest of the company. General Maritime, led by chief executive Peter C. Georgiopoulos, rejected the approach, and Frontline cut its stake.

?It?s a surprising move; still, a merger would make sense,? said Arne Egil Roenning, an analyst at Fondsfinans in Oslo who has a ?sell? rating on Frontline. ?There are benefits to gain from improving operations at general Maritime.?

Frontline hasn?t made any offer for General Maritime. Tor Olav Troim, a Frontline director and spokesman for Fredriksen, declined to comment. Georgiopoulos wasn?t available to comment, according to a personal assistant in New York. Jeffrey Pribor, chief financial officer of General Maritime, also in New York, declined to comment.

Acquiring General Maritime, known as Genmar, would increase Frontline?s capacity to about 21 million tons of crude, or about five days of OPEC production. Frontline on average earns more on the same type of ships than Genmar and has lower costs.

Frontline operates a fleet of 42 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, taking on two million barrels of crude each, and 35 tankers half that size, known as Suezmax tankers. Genmar has 11 Suezmax tankers, the biggest to navigate the Suez Canal with a full cargo, including ships on order at shipyards. The company owns 19 Aframax tankers loading 600,000-barrel cargoes.

Frontline on average earned $39,200 a day from its Suezmax tankers in the nine months through Sept. 30 and $58,460 a day in 2004. Genmar?s million-barrel tankers earned $37,250 a day in the nine-month period and $42,242 a day during all of last year. The earnings are after paying for voyage costs such as fuel and port fees.

J.P. Morgan Securities a year ago estimated the companies could get benefits of $66.5 million if Genmar?s Suezmax tankers earned as much and were operated at the same cost as Frontline?s.

Frontline is looking for takeover targets and strategic transactions, the company said in yesterday?s filing.

As part of the strategy, Frontline identified General Maritime as an acquisition candidate early last year.

On several occasions beginning in mid 2004, representatives of Frontline had discussions with General Maritime, which said it wasn?t interested in exploring a transaction at the time, Frontline said in the filing.