Investors will be able to buy fractional stakes in commercial vessels using tokens via a new alternative financing platform that is being backed by members of the Hadjipateras family.
London-based Magma Maritime is targeting investment from existing shipowners and institutional players seeking exposure to the shipping sector.
Magma claims to be the first platform to provide alternative ship finance through tokenisation.
The platform said it is in “advanced negotiations” with potential investors to raise an initial $200m, with which it will seek to purchase modern secondhand bulkers, ideally no more than five years old.
Magma also plans to develop a secondary market for trading the tokens on a regulated exchange.
London-Greek connection
Among Magma’s directors are John Marcos Hadjipateras and his cousin, John Pantelis Hadjipateras.
By day, the two cousins head London-based John C Hadjipateras & Sons, which has previously been a shipowner and manager.
"The initial vision is basically to tokenise illiquid assets — hence the name Magma," John Marcos told TradeWinds.
Bulkers are just the beginning for the platform, which aims to scale up to provide ship finance to other vessel types, but he said it will focus on newer energy-efficient tonnage.
"The consensus of the [Magma] board is there is a big enough buy signal in dry bulk at the moment, purely because of what the state of the market is," he said.
"The upside potential for investors we feel is higher than any for other sector at the moment."
As the market changes, John Marcos insisted there will be expansion to other sectors as well.
"As new technologies develop or are developed by R&D [research and development] funds and the shipbuilders and engine builders, then there's nothing to rule out why the tokens couldn't be used to finance new technologies as well as newbuilds," he said.
Unique selling point
The platform seeks to fill some of the financing gap left by the retreat of bank lending to shipping.
John Marcos said the platform would target investment from institutional investors, among whom there is still appetite for shipping, as well as from existing shipowners.
“We see that the smaller to medium-size owner who doesn’t necessarily have access to traditional sources of financing would be interested in the fractionalised ownership of an asset like a ship,” he said.
The platform may also target investment from traditional financial institutions looking to refinance their existing debt exposure to shipping.
John Marcos said it has not yet been confirmed what sort of cooperation there might be between John C Hadjipateras & Sons and Magma.
“At the moment, we’re acting as advisories on the [Magma] board to give them some insights and access to the maritime world,” he said in relation to his involvement with his cousin.
