Naples-based Perseveranza di Navigazione has rounded off a $250m debt restructuring with its creditors.
The deal will shift the ownership of seven tankers and bulkers to companies managed by financial advisors Pillarstone Italy and DeA Capital Alternative Funds.
But the D'Amato family has secured an agreement to retain the management of the former Perseveranza vessels for the foreseeable future.
Perseveranza, which is run by brothers Angelo and Umberto D'Amato representing the fourth generation of the family, has been seeking to restructure debt on a fleet of four product tankers, two bulkers and a 50% interest in two post-panamax bulkers.
Ownership of four vessels will be transferred to the Finav fund, which has built up a portfolio of shipping loans for Irish asset manager Davy Global Fund Management that are managed by financial advisor Pillarstone Italy.
Another three vessels will enter into the portfolio of CCR Shipping, a fund launched by DeA Capital in December 2018.
Taconic Capital, which along with Hamburg Commercial Bank was involved in restructuring talks on the D'Amato fleet, is understood to have taken the last and eighth vessel in the fleet, according to sources.
Perseveranza chief executive Angelo D'Amato said the deal with creditors would enable the complete recovery of Perseveranza's debt position after what had been a long period of crisis.
“We are happy to have managed to achieve a complex agreement, but always with the support of the two main creditors," he said.
The debt has been restructured under Article 182 of Italian bankruptcy law so that Perseveranza can continue operating as a shipmanager.
Cleaning-up
The Perseveranza restructuring continues the rapid expansion of Dea Capital and Pillarstone Italy-managed Finav in the Italian shipping sector.
It takes the Finav portfolio to over $500m on vessels acquired from nine Italian shipping companies.
In May, Pillarstone Italy tied up a debt restructuring that will see it take over four of five MR tankers in the fleet of Rome's PB Tankers. Most of the vessels it will acquire are managed on its Genoa-based shipmanagement platform, Premuda.
Similarly, the Perseveranza deal will mark DeA Capital's fifth acquisition of shipping debt in 18 months.
The deal takes the shipping portfolio of DeA Capital to about $200m-worth of assets from eight shipping companies.
Naples owners
Perseveranza joins a long line of Neapolitan-based bulker and tanker owners that are managing ships on behalf of private equity clients.
These include Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping, which is working with Bain Capital, and RBD Armatori, which manages ships on behalf of the Reuben Brothers.
Together, the eight vessels under the Perseveranza umbrella have an estimated value of about $110m, according to VesselsValue.
The six vessels wholly owned by Perseveranza are estimated to be worth $85.8m.
This is mostly related to three MR2 product tankers built at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. The 52,200-dwt Miss Benedetta (built 2012), 47,500-dwt Miss Mariarosaria and Miss Marina (both built 2011) have an estimated value of $20m each.
Perseveranza also owns the 70,300-dwt tanker Freight Margie (built 2004) and two bulkers — the 74,700-dwt Rosalia D'Amato (built 2001) and 93,300-dwt Chiara D'Amato (built 2009).
Two other bulkers — the 93,200-dwt Antonella Lembo (built 2011) and Marlene D'Amato (built 2012) — were ordered in a joint venture with Filippo Lembo's SetSea.
These are estimated to be worth over $13m each.
The Perseveranza deal has been put together with KPMG as financial advisor and Milan-based consultancy Venice Shipping & Logistics as business advisor.
