George Economou, a shareholder and critic of OceanPal, has received a tidy compensation to bury the hatchet with the bulker owner’s management.
A “support agreement” announced and signed last week between the Greek tycoon and the Palios family-controlled firm involves a $6.75m payment to Economou-controlled Sphinx Investment Corp.
This amount “includes reimbursement for certain of its out of pocket and other expenses”, according to a follow-up announcement filed by OceanPal to the Securities & Exchange Commission on 20 May.
The payment was not revealed in the original press release announcing the compromise between the two sides on 17 May, apart from a general statement that the deal included “customary standstill provisions, mutual releases and non-disparagement and expense reimbursement terms”.
Sphinx Investment has a 14.1% stake in OceanPal.
US-listed OceanPal, an owner of five bulkers and an investor in two chemical tanker newbuildings, had entered into a non-binding “support agreement” under which Economou would be “made available to provide strategic advice” regarding future opportunities to create shareholder value.
In return, he agreed to cease his efforts to change the OceanPal board and pledged to back management’s nominations.
This was the second boardroom dispute that shipowner-turned-shareholder activist Economou settled last week after calling off his bid to change the board at another US-listed company, Genco Shipping & Trading.
Speaking to TradeWinds, Economou justified his strategy to invest in companies and then seek to change their boardroom, governance or strategy by arguing that he invests in undervalued companies to make money.
OceanPal and Genco are two of four US-listed companies that have seen Economou invest and then launch some sort of activist intervention.
Another two are Performance Shipping — an entity also controlled by the Palios family — and Seanergy Maritime.
