Commerzbank has withdrawn from ship finance by selling its remaining loans linked to 38 ships, according to sector sources.

The business has been picked up by US private equity investor Davidson Kempner Capital Management.

The investment firm is understood to have acquired what was left of Commerzbank’s €300m ($335m) shipping portfolio with back-leverage from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Firm price obtained

Sources speculate that Commerzbank obtained a firm price for the portfolio of mainly performing loans.

“From a Commerzbank perspective, it is favourable," said one finance source.

"But Davidson Kempner is satisfied because they are looking to receive a regular, high-cash yield."

Both Commerzbank and Davidson Kempner declined to comment on the deal, which closed in late May.

The deal has drawn comparisons with Deutsche Bank's $1bn sale of performing loans to Oak Hill Advisors and Varde Partners in June last year.

Commerzbank recently called off talks for a merger with Deutsche Bank.

Its decision to sell its remaining shipping portfolio is seen as making another dent in the German ship finance cluster.

Commerzbank's last shipping deal is understood to have been completed at the end of May involving a refinancing of the 8,533-teu Lloyd Don Giovanni (built 2006) with German bank Berenberg.

Towering portfolio

In its heyday, prior to the shipping crisis, Commerzbank helped finance some of the leading fleets in Germany.

In 2013, it held a towering shipping portfolio of €19bn, of which €4.5bn was in non-performing loans.

But Commerzbank's fast-tracking of loan and ship sales saw its maritime loans cut to less than €500m on 60 ships by the end of last year.

The deal reflects Davidson Kempner's growing interest in the shipping sector.

Last year, it was linked to unsuccessful bids for loans being sold off as part of the Nord/LB shipping portfolio.

More recently, the US firm has taken over some of the portfolios being offloaded by Greek banks.

Earlier this month, Piraeus Bank announced the sale of a €507m ($565m) shipping loan package to the US private equity fund for $240m.

Davidson Kempner has more than $30bn in assets under management.

It was founded in May 1983 by Marvin Davidson and is led by Thomas Kempner Jr and Anthony Yoseloff.