Star Bulk Carriers said on Tuesday it will retain two key executives and a board member from Eagle Bulk Shipping after the Greek company closed a takeover of the Connecticut shipowner.
Long-time Eagle Bulk director Gary Weston has joined the Star Bulk board of directors.
Eagle Bulk chief commercial officer Bo Westergaard will join the Athens-based company’s leadership team.
Although his position at Star Bulk was not announced, he is expected to lead its commercial team.
Costa Tsoutsoplides, Eagle Bulk’s chief financial officer, will stay on as interim senior adviser to help integrate the two companies after the $2.7bn merger.
Eagle Bulk chief executive Gary Vogel is not making the move.
The appointments were announced as New York-listed Star Bulk said it completed its takeover of its smaller rival, swelling its fleet to 167 vessels and cementing it as the world’s largest publicly listed bulker owner.
The deal adds Eagle Bulk’s fleet of 53 ultramaxes and supramaxes.
Eagle Bulk’s web address now redirects to the Star Bulk site, and the Connecticut company’s shares have ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
That came days after about two-thirds of Eagle Bulk shareholders signed off on the transaction.
Petros Pappas, Star Bulk’s chief executive, said the closing of the deal marked an “exciting day” for the company in its bid to create a global leader in the bulker sector.
“We are moving forward with greater scale, a stronger financial profile and unique technical and commercial capabilities to grow our business, better serve our customers and deliver sustainable value for our shareholders,” he said.
Weston had been on the Eagle Bulk board of directors since 2014. He is a dry bulk shipping veteran who served as executive chairman and chief executive of Monaco’s C Transport Maritime.
Westergaard had been chief commercial officer at Eagle Bulk since October 2015, after 10 years at Clipper Bulk.
Tsoutsoplides became Eagle Bulk’s chief financial officer last year, after two years as chief strategy officer. He has been at the company since 2010.
This article has been amended since publication to reflect that Bo Westergaard was Eagle’s chief commercial officer.
