Franco Compania Naviera and affiliate FCN Management, two Greek shipping affiliates led by Nicolas and Marily Frangistas, are close to selling two of their 11 bulkers.
Brokers and ship management sources in Athens and London said the outfits have signed preliminary agreement to divest an eight-year-old ultramax and a 15-year-old supramax for $39.5m in total.
The Chinese-built 63,200-dwt Delsa (built 2015) is the youngest ship in the Frangistas fleet and the Japanese-built 55,800-dwt Alegre III (built 2007) among its older ones.
Despite their age difference, both ships are understood to be on sale as part of a long-term fleet renewal process aiming for a smaller carbon footprint.
The sale of the Alegre III is well timed. FCN acquired the ship for about $11.5m in September 2017 and is now believed to be selling it to unidentified Indonesian interests for $14.7m.
The Delsa seems to have been a profitable investment as well. The Frangistas family bought the ship in May 2015 in a $27m resale transaction at China’s Zhejiang Shipbuilding.
After trading the vessel for about seven years, the family companies are now believed to be selling it to Turkish interests for between $24.5m and $24.8m.
This is a higher price than the $24.2m fetched by a similar ship, the 63,600-dwt Stony Stream (built 2015), in a recent sale to Eagle Bulk Shipping. The US-based owner, however, hasn’t confirmed the deal yet.
The Frangistas family’s shipping history goes back to the 1940s, when Achilles Frangistas set up Franco Shipping Group.
Nicolas and Marily Frangistas were among the first Greek players to engage with private equity investors.
A quiet Christmas
They are not the only Greek owners believed to have sold a bulker just before Christmas.
Equinox Maritime is reported to be in the process of divesting an older supramax, the 52,000-dwt Equinox Dawn (built 2002), to Chinese interests for $11m.
All these deals come amid a lacklustre secondhand market for bulkers, which pales in comparison to the fireworks seen in the tanker market.
With holidays approaching, market players were holding their horses for the New Year, brokers at Athens-based WeberSeas reported.
“Given the bleak economic outlook, bulk carriers are seemingly less sought-after by buyers,” Greek peers Allied Shipping Resarch said.
“As far as asset prices are concerned, ideas of existing candidates continue to reflect a softening market,” said Seaborne Shipbrokers, another respected shipping research shop in Athens.
