Soon-to-merge dry cargo shipbroker Ifchor and tanker and sale-and-purchase specialist Galbraiths appear to be a natural fit strategically but questions are being asked if they will be able to bring their different corporate cultures together.
Reacting to what must rank among the worst-kept broker merger secrets, shipping market players were quick to credit both shops for making a logical step to pool their specialisms and create a larger shipbroking entity.
Natural fit?
Midsize brokers need to do something to survive as their customers get bigger and more demanding but smaller in numbers, one tanker source said, adding that to grow organically can prove slower, and expensive with no guarantee of success.
But almost everyone TradeWinds spoke to posed the question as to whether the two brokers would prove a natural fit culturally.
They pointed to Galbraiths’ image as a conservative, traditional, London-focused shop and Ifchor’s deep Italian roots and strong links to the large dry cargo traders.
“Slow-moving tanker outfit collides with high-intensity Italians,” was one take on the planned hook-up.
“It’s as if the Montagues and Capulets have come together,” another competitor chuckled. “They are two houses but so different culturally.”
After finally taking the wraps off their merger plans on Thursday, neither Galbraiths’ chief executive Bjorn Andersen nor his co-counterparts at Ifchor, brothers Gigho and Manu Ravano were immediately available to speak about the planned deal.
The lack of detail — some of which presumably has still to be finalised — prompted further chatter in the market.
Shipping sources claiming to have an inside track on the merger details said the new entity will have a seven-person board which will be comprised of four representatives from Ifchor and three from Galbraiths.
The combined annual turnover of the two companies has been put at around $120m with Ifchor’s share being approximately $80m.
A 50-person-strong Singapore office was mentioned, along with key centres in Dubai and Geneva for the new, as-yet unbranded company.
There is also speculation that the two — until now intensely private companies — may be eyeing a listing their new venture in the future.
Those following the shipbroking pair closely said Ifchor has been trawling the London market for a tanker shop for some time. There is talk that the company had discussions with other UK shops — Gibsons has been mooted as one of them — before landing on Galbraiths.
Top five
Post-merger the new entity is expected to rank up among the top five shops with, depending on the exact metric of measurement, only Clarksons, Simpson Spence Young, Braemar and Barry Rogliano Salles proving larger on true broker numbers.
Focus has also turned to the CEOs of the two soon-to-merge companies.
Owners and brokers spoke of Galbraiths’ Andersen as a “transactional broker” who “gets things done” and said in the last few years he has brought in several interesting people as he tried to move the company forward.
The Ravano brothers — described by other brokers as “uber charming” — are given credit by their competitors for creating a “respected and very effective” company while also moving to modernise it.
