Greek owner Byzantine Maritime has denied reports from usually reliable sources that the company has sold one of its 11 supramax bulkers in a deal that appeared to indicate downward pressure on bulker values.

US brokers had said earlier that Byzantine was in the process of selling the IHI-built 56,000-dwt Yvonne (built 2008) to a Vietnamese buyer for $9m on subjects.

Panagiotis Koulouris, operations manager of Byzantine, said the deal had been "erroneously reported".

UK-based online platform VesselsValue said the vessel is worth $10.9m. All 11 vessels in the company's fleet are supramaxes and nine of them were built at Japan's IHI. They are on average nine years old.

Other sales

A couple of Kawasaki-built supramax bulkers also appear to be in the process of being sold for similar prices as Yvonne.

They are the Japanese-controlled 55,000-dwt African Kingfisher and Bulk Chile (both built in 2009), are set to fetch some $10.2m each, according to brokers.

Yvonne has been in the Byzantine fleet since it was new. The Greek owner has in the past also shown capability for asset play.

In May 2016, it bought the STX-built 82,000-dwt Maverick Guardian (built 2012) at auction for just $14.95m. In May last year it sold the vessel on to compatriot owner Hydroussa Navigation for $19m.

Byzantine Maritime is controlled by Mario Stafilopatis. His tanker company, Colonial Navigation, is listed with 13 tankers from handysizes to aframaxes. In addition Colonial has four midsize LPG carriers.