Two Bourbon-managed super-large anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels have been reported sold to Russian-controlled Sevnor Management.

The 20,393-bhp Bourbon Borgstein and Bourbon Surf (both built 2003) are said to have gone for $5m en bloc.

The seller is Pareto's 2B Offshore.

VesselsValue assesses the ships as worth $3.3m and $3.67m respectively.

Russian-owned Sevnor Management has four other offshore vessels, plus two MPPs. It has been contacted for comment.

Restructured Bourbon told TradeWinds it could not confirm the sale, but said the ships are owned by its lenders.

They were on a list of non-core assets to be sold as it continues to reduce the fleet.

The company is reorganising under the ownership of five French banks after a court process that saw founder Jacques de Chateauvieux lose control.

The ships are listed as laid up by Clarksons.

Big price drop

In 2013, Bourbon revealed it had sold the pair for a whopping $130m, which brought it a capital gain of $63m and shows how much values have fallen since the crash of 2014.

Bourbon had taken the vessels on charters of up to five years after the sale initially.

The annual bareboat charter cost would have been 13% of the transaction value which worked out at $16.9m per year or a day rate of about $23,000.

Pareto is listed as controlling three other AHTSs, three platform supply vessels (PSVs) and an anchor-handling tug.

In 2019, it finally succeeded in selling three PSVs acquired from Bourbon eight years ago.

The 3,300-dwt Antenor, Asterie (both built 2004) and Bourbon Atlantide (built 2003), owned by Pareto's 3B Offshore, went for $0.88m each.

Clarksons said A1 Offshore of Denmark had snapped up Antenor and Bourbon Atlantide, with Asterie going to Raj Shipping of India.