When Costamare bought the 56,700-dwt bulker supramax Atlantic Merida (built 2012) in July last year, the deal was described as a successful move by Pacific Carriers, which sold the ship at a price that looked robust then.
The bulker bonanza that continued since, however, generated even more value to be squeezed out of the Taizhou Khouan-built vessel.
Costamare, which has been trading the ship for the past 11 months as Merida, is now believed to be moving to cash in on that appreciation.
Several brokers in Athens and the US report that the company is in the process of selling the vessel for a remarkable $19.75m.
Other market sources in Athens, however, are expressing doubts, saying the vessel isn't up for sale at all.
If a sale is eventually confirmed, it would come much higher than the $18.8m that Signal Ocean’s shipping data platform calculates the Merida is currently worth.
Costamare declined to comment on the reports, in line with standard policy to not discuss commercial matters outside official press releases and stock market disclosures.
The rumoured sale of the Merida would be the second asset play conducted by the Costis Konstantakopoulos-led company since it splashed into bulkers in 2021.
Costamare built from scratch a fleet of 46 such vessels then, through serial acquisitions on the secondhand market worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Costamare's first bulker asset play took place in April 2022 with the sale of another supramax, the 57,300-dwt Thunder (renamed Honwin, built 2009) — the $18.3m Thunder deal generated $3.6m in capital gains.
((This article was updated since original publication to add market sources expressing doubts about the sale of the Merida having taken place))
