Greece’s Cosmoship Management is reinforcing its reputation as one of the most active asset players in the current market cycle, clocking up nine sales of bulkers and containerships since May.
TradeWinds has reported how Cosmoship has flipped four feeder boxships, two supramaxes and one handysize bulker to French, Algerian or Chinese interests.
And again it is mostly to Chinese buyers that Cosmoship owner Nick Savvas has turned to in the sale of a further three handysize bulk carriers.
Ship-management sources in Piraeus said Cosmoship's 30,000-dwt Niki C (built 2011) has been sold for about $12m to unidentified Chinese interests.
This is a profitable transaction for Cosmoship, considering the money it has earned from trading the ship since taking delivery of it as a newbuilding from New Century Shipbuilding.
In a separate deal, which was more of a straight asset play, Savvas agreed to sell the 32,700-dwt handysize Antigoni (built 2011) for $11.5m, also to unidentified Chinese players.
He bought the Jiangsu Zhenjiang-built ship in early 2019 for about $8m, as part of an en-bloc deal for a sistership handysize trio from Bocimar.
The Antigoni has already been delivered to its new owners and is trading as Sea Plain I.
A third handysize deal is in the making. Brokers in Athens reported that Norwegian buyers are set to acquire Cosmoship’s 31,700-dwt Serenity C (built 2011) for about $13.5m — a price about two-thirds higher than what Savvas spent to buy the ship two years ago, when it was trading as the RHL Novare.
Some of the money that Cosmoship has earned from asset plays has been ploughed into newbuildings. In May, it booked a pair of feeder containerships at China’s Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, bringing the tally of its vessels under construction there to four — all due for delivery in 2023.
Diligent deals
Diligent Holdings is another Greek company that has been benefitting from rising asset values by offloading cheaply acquired handysize tonnage.
Managers at the Dimitris Michalos-led outfit confirmed a deal to shed the 28,300-dwt Paloma (built 2010) to unidentified buyers for more than $13m. Its delivery is due at the end of November.
Diligent had acquired the ship in 2017 for about $8m.
The Paloma deal, which was arranged by London-based brokerage Hull Search International, represents Diligent’s third sale of a 28,000-dwt handysize since April.
Between 2016 and 2020, the company steadily expanded its bulker fleet by buying 15 handysizes and supramaxes on the secondhand market.
However, earlier this year, Diligent began selling vessels, shaking off some of its oldest and smallest ships to benefit from rising asset values.
Even vintage bulkers are fetching prices far above their scrap value. Unidentified interests in Egypt are reportedly spending about $6.7m to buy the 23,500-dwt Lucky Trader (built 1996) from Athens-based FGM Chartering.
