A SAM Shipping bulker arrested as a result of a fraud dispute will be auctioned in the US next month.
Credit Suisse, as the mortgagee, obtained an order last week in the District Court of the Southern District of Texas to sell the 32,600-dwt SAM Eagle (built 2010) on 15 July.
Bidding will start at $3.75m. VesselsValue puts the ship's value at $5.6m. It will be the second video link auction held by UK admiralty broker CW Kellock, following the sale of Smooth Navigation’s 24,306-dwt handysize bulker Evolution (built 1995) last month.
The SAM Eagle is a younger vessel and more bidders are expected to compete this time, TradeWinds understands.
The bulker is lying at anchor off Corpus Christi, Texas, and is to be sold free of all liens, claims, mortgages and encumbrances. A condition survey has been carried out.
TradeWinds reported last month that the ship is one of a number of SAM Shipping bulkers targeted by Credit Suisse.
Bitter dispute
It was arrested by trade financier FIMBank in the US last September and remains in detention.
The move was an indirect result of a bitter dispute between the ship operator and Malta’s FIMBank over an alleged bill-of-lading fraud.
A sistership, the 57,200-dwt supramax SAM Hawk (built 2013), was arrested at Mundra in India last month by Credit Suisse.
The bank claims $23.7m is outstanding under the loan it provided in 2012 to finance the SAM Hawk and its sistership, the 57,200-dwt SAM Jaguar (built 2013), according to an order filed by the High Court of Gujarat in Ahmedabad.
In March, SAM Shipping chief executive Dennis Saevski told TradeWinds: “We are working hard and are committed to continue to service our clients and other stakeholders during these unprecedented and challenging times. Unfortunately, due to the long arrest of the SAM Eagle by FIMBank and the inability to find common ground with the financing bank, SAM Jaguar will be taken back by the financing bank.”
Members of two prominent Russian and Azerbaijani families — including the president of Azerbaijan’s son-in-law — have emerged as the ultimate beneficial owners behind Switzerland-based SAM Shipping.
