The Dr Peters Group has sold what seems to be its last directly-owned tanker in yet another secondhand deal with Greece’s NGM Energy.
Market sources said the German investment group's DS Tankers unit has offloaded the 70,400-dwt DS Promoter (built 2002) for between $8.5m and $9m. That is below the $9m to $10m estimates for the ship by the valuation services of VesselsValue and Maritime Strategies International (MSI).
The panamax DS Promoter, built at Japan’s Universal Shipbuilding Corp, is understood to be equipped with ballast water treatment systems and to have changed hands in a deal last month.
A spokesman for Dr Peters, whose shipping department is headed by David Landgrebe, said he couldn't comment on a possible sale of the vessel, citing confidentiality reasons.
DS Tankers' website, however, no longer features the DS Promoter on its managed fleet list. Information on Equasis suggests the ship passed to NGM management on 2 December and has henceforth traded as the Promoter.
The sale of the DS Promoter likely marks DS Tankers' exit from direct shipowning. Dr Peters, continues to feature three tankers on its website, but they are all understood to be merely managed or operated by the company.
Two ships, the 297,000-dwt DS Vision and DS Venture (both built 2011), were sold in October last year to Minsheng Financial Leasing for below $60m each in a deal including a long-term time charter to Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation.
The third ship on DS Tankers' website, the 150,000-dwt Ridgebury Astari (built 2002), is owned by Connecticut's Ridgebury Tankers and is operated by Dr Peters as part of both companies’ cooperation in Heidmar’s Blue Fin suezmax pool.
Aggressively reducing exposure
The Dr Peters Group, which invests in aviation and real estate alongside shipping, has been aggressively reducing its exposure to tankers since August 2018, when Landgrebe was appointed as its head for maritime assets.
Landgrebe has raised about $200m from tanker sales since his appointment, according to TradeWinds calculations that include all transactions cited above.
Purchases by Piraeus-based NGM Energy account for the bulk of Dr Peters' sales. The Moundreas family’s shipping outfit acquired five ships from DS Tankers since October 2018, spending an estimated amount of more than $70m in the process.
The last such deal before the DS Promoter took place a couple of months ago, when NGM Energy acquired the 299,000-dwt DS Commodore (built 2000) for about $22m. The ship hasn't been delivered to its new owners yet.
Moundreas has been buying Dr Peters tankers with an age between 15 and 20 years. Some of these ships gave rise to juicy asset plays. For example, NGM flipped the 299,000-dwt Vida (built 2003) for a hefty profit just a few months after its purchase.
