By Stephen Farr,Bloomberg News

Teekay Shipping Corp., the world's biggest oil-tanker operator by market value, sold its 16 percent stake in D/S Torm A/S of Denmark to institutional investors for about $130.2 million after the stock tripled in a year.

The sale will result in a third-quarter gain of about $90 million, Nassau, Bahamas-based Teekay said in a Business Wire release. Teekay acquired the stake in Torm, a Copenhagen-based operator of oil-product tankers and dry-bulk ships, last July for the equivalent of about $40 million.

Tanker companies' shares are trading close to all-time highs as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumps oil at near-record levels. Demand for ships to carry that output has pushed freight rates to highs last seen in 1973, during the Arab oil embargo against the U.S.

Teekay didn't identify the Danish and international investors who bought the stake. Teekay shares rose 44 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $38.76 in New York composite trading at 9:40 a.m. New York time. They have climbed 79 percent in the past year, pushing the company's market value to $3.1 billion.

Torm fell 2 Danish kroner to 144.5 kroner at 3:40 p.m. in Copenhagen, cutting its market value to 5.26 billion kroner ($880 million).

Teekay bought the 5.81 million shares of Torm on July 4, 2003 for 41.5 kroner each, adjusted for a stock split. The shares reached 214 kroner on June 11.