Italy’s Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Co has divested half of its fleet in the six months it has been under full control of private equity owners.

One capesize and five post-panamaxes previously with the company have changed hands since October, raising about $80m in total, according to broker reports and online shipping databanks, such as Equasis, that confirm most of these deals.

The Italian outfit’s last remaining tanker — the 40,200-dwt tanker Ghetty Bottiglieri (built 2002) — is slated to go as well, with brokers having circulated the ship for sale since November.

Shipbrokers and sources have said the Bain Capital-appointed management will not stop there.

“Word on the street is that the entire fleet may go by the end of the year,” one Athens-based ship-management source said.

Managers at Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping did not respond to a request for comment.

Greeks have been paying close attention to developments at the Naples-based firm. Players in Athens and Piraeus have bought most of the Bottiglieri ships, which have been already delivered to their new owners.

Lou Kollakis alone is believed to have swooped on two vessels. Kollakis company Charterwell Maritime has already emerged as the new owner of the 93,400-dwt Giovanni Bottiglieri (renamed Star Diamond, built 2009).

A sistership — the 93,300-dwt bulker Bottiglieri Flavio Borriello (built 2011) — was delivered earlier this month to Greece’s Kondinave and will now trade as the Rhea.

A view of the port of Naples, which is the home city of Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping. Photo: Ian Lewis

As TradeWinds reported previously, London-based Zodiac Maritime has picked up the company’s sole capesize: the 175,200-dwt Giuseppe Bottiglieri (renamed Cape Seagull, built 2011).

So far, no buyers have emerged behind reported deals for the 93,300-dwt sisterships Bottiglieri Giorgio Avino and Bottiglieri Giulio Borriello (both built 2011), as well as for the slightly older, 93,400-dwt Bottiglieri Challenger (built 2010).

Rising asset values

These were part of a $500m newbuilding order for 10 post-panamaxes placed by the Italian company with Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding in 2007.

Such post-panamax bulkers usually attract a limited circle of potential buyers since their wide-beam restricts them to specialised trades in certain ports, mostly coal runs in the Indian Ocean.

However, their attractiveness increased in recent months amid rapidly rising asset values that make them potential asset-play objects.

These are favourable conditions for the ship sales that Bain Capital has been pushing for to recoup the investment it made in the company.

Bain Capital entered into a partnership with Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping’s founding family in 2017 after the Italian organisation filed for court protection.

Bain Capital took full control in October 2020, when it replaced Bottiglieri family members as board members and top executives with three managers from consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal.

All of the company’s recent sales took place under that new management, which is headed by Alessandro Ranzoli — a former chief financial officer at fashion and textile outfits.

The sales would leave Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping with another five post-panamax bulkers and the tanker Ghetty Bottiglieri.

Bottiglieri Shipping was founded in 1850 in Torre del Greco, Naples, with a small fleet of coral fishing boats.

In 2018, the Bottiglieri family fought back an attempt by Petros Pappas-led Oceanbulk Maritime and Raffaele Zagari-led Augustea Holdings to wrest control of the company. At the time, the family described the move as a hostile takeover attempt.