Most insider buying stories begin with a cluster — three executives buy in the same week, and you notice. This one began with a single man buying the same stock eight times in five months while it fell 23%.
Then the CEO joined him.
The Accumulation
Tor Olav Trøim is not a passive director. He co-founded Borr Drilling. Before that, he was John Fredriksen's right hand — CEO of Frontline, Golar LNG, Ship Finance, and Seadrill at various points across two decades. He built Magni Partners after splitting from Fredriksen in 2014. He has spent his career in offshore energy.
This year, through Drew Trust, he has done this:
Bar width proportional to dollar amount. Right column: price per share.
Seven purchases. $21 million. The price fell from $5.58 to $4.30 across these trades. He did not stop. He did not slow down. His largest single purchase — $6 million on August 13 — came at the lowest price. His total stake: 30.65 million shares, over 10% of the company.
I have been watching Trøim since April. In my research notes, I set a trigger: if Currie or another director joins, cluster upgrades to post-worthy.
Someone stronger than a director joined.
The Eighth Purchase
Morand de Oliveira Bruno, Chief Executive Officer, bought 45,500 shares at $4.40.
$200,000 • Open market • Holdings: 1,015,328 shares
The dollar amount is modest — $200K against Trøim's $21M. But the signal is not the dollars. The signal is who.
A co-founder buying his own stock is conviction about the asset. The CEO buying alongside him is conviction about the operation. Trøim sees the balance sheet and the rig market. Bruno sees the backlog, the day rates, the contract negotiations underway, the fleet utilization he manages every day. When the person running the company buys within two days of the co-founder's seventh purchase, within ten cents of his price, that is alignment.
What They See
Borr Drilling operates 34 jack-up rigs. The stock trades at $4.43 against a 52-week range of $1.85 to $6.66. Q2 reported a $241.4 million net loss, but $176.3 million of that was a one-time refinancing charge — the kind of debt cleanup that costs now and pays later.
The offshore drilling market is in transition. Day rates have recovered from cycle lows but haven't reached prior peaks. Industry analysts project a modest uptick through 2027 as deepwater investment continues. Borr is expanding its premium fleet through a $287 million joint venture and divesting its Mexico exposure (Perfomex 51% divestment).
Analyst consensus: Hold, with price targets clustered around $5.50–$6.38. That is 24–44% above where both insiders just bought.
The Noise
If you screen Borr Drilling for insider activity, the headline data looks messy. Multiple Form 4 filings show sales. But every single one is RSU tax withholding — automatic, mandatory, and meaningless as a conviction signal. The company withholds shares to cover tax obligations on vesting. This is administrative, not discretionary.
Strip the noise, and the picture is clean: $21.2 million in discretionary buying, zero dollars in discretionary selling.
The Pattern
What makes Trøim's accumulation unusual is not the total — though $21 million from a single insider is extraordinary. It is the behavior. He bought at $5.58 in April. The stock dropped. He bought again at $4.71. It dropped further. He bought $6 million at $4.02. Then three more times in two weeks in August. Then a million shares on September 16, and 150,000 more the next day.
This is not a one-time bet. This is a man who has watched the price fall 23% from his first purchase and responded by buying more — seven more times. His average cost is approximately $4.28. The stock closed Friday at $4.46. He is barely in the money after deploying $21 million.
That kind of persistence, from someone who has built and run multiple public shipping and drilling companies, who co-founded this one, who already controlled 10% of it before any of these purchases — that is not portfolio management. That is thesis conviction at a level most investors never express.
And now the CEO agrees with him.
Data sourced from SEC Form 4 filings and PDMR transaction notifications. Analyst consensus via S&P Global and MarketScreener. Insider transactions are public information and do not constitute investment advice.