Greece’s Globus Maritime revealed agreements to sell two of the eight bulkers it has in the water, in deals worth $21.9m.
The 56,900-dwt supramax sisterships Sky Globe (built 2009) and Star Globe (built 2010) have gone to undisclosed third-party buyers for a gross price of $10.7m and $11.2m respectively, the US-listed company said in a statement late on Friday.
The sale of the Chinese-built vessels represents an acceleration of a new fleet renewal strategy adopted by Globus Maritime last year.
In the spring of 2022, the Feidakis family company spent $106m to order its first newbuildings in 16 years — two 64,000-dwt ultramaxes at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering and a further such vessel at Japan’s Nihon Shipyard (NSY).
Just a few months later, in March 2023, Globus sold its first ship on the secondhand market in seven years after agreeing to part with the 58,800-dwt Sun Globe (renamed Elim Joyce, built 2007) for $14.1m.
Combined with its latest supramax sales, which are expected to be delivered to their new owners in September, the Globus fleet in the water shrinks to six bulkers — one supramax, one panamax and four kamsarmaxes.
Barring any potential acquisitions on the secondhand market, the company’s fleet will start growing again in 2024, when NSY and Nantong Cosco will deliver the newbuildings Feidakis ordered last year.
Commenting on its first ship sale in March, the company’s chief executive Athanasios Feidakis said it was part of a “new strategy” to divest assets no longer fitting with a commitment to renew its fleet.
Assuming it will sell more of its older vessels, the next potential sale candidates could be the 74,400-dwt Moon Globe (built 2005) and the 53,600-dwt River Globe (built 2007).
In fact, some brokers in March reported that a $10.5m deal was on for the Moon Globe. That information, however, proved inaccurate and the Chinese-built panamax is still with Globus.
CIT loan beefed up
Globus finances part of its newbuilding programme through bank loans and on Friday the company announced notching up the debt it owes to its principal lender CIT.
Feidakis tapped CIT, which is a division of First Citizens Bank, for a further $25m, bringing the volume of an existing loan facility with the US-based lender to $77.25m in total.
In order to beef up the loan, Globus offered two of its four kamsarmaxes as collateral — the 82,000-dwt Diamond Globe (built 2018) and the 80,700-dwt Power Globe (built 2011).
The two vessels had been previously unencumbered by debt.
On the other hand, CIT and Globus agreed to lower the interest rate on the borrowing. The CIT facility, which is expressed in Term SOFR — a forward-looking index used in many floating-rate loans — has now a margin of 2.7%.
When Globus first clinched its loan with CIT in May 2021, it had a volume of $34.25m and was priced at LIBOR plus a margin of 3.75%.
Among other terms, the CIT loan restricts Globus’ capacity to pay dividends and prohibits the company from delisting from the Nasdaq.
That is probably one reason why Globus said in July that it was considering a reverse stock split to regain compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements, after its stock dipped below the $1-per-share listing.
According to the company’s latest annual filings, major Globus shareholders with stakes between 5% and 10% include funds such as Steven Boyd-led Armistice Capital, Mitchell Kopin and Daniel Asher-led Intracoastal Capital, Jeff Easton-led Lind Global Macro Fund and Sander Gerber-led Hudson Bay Master Fund.
Intracoastal and Hudson Bay also used to own stakes in Top Ships, another Greek-led shipping company listed in the US.
Members of the Feidakis family used to own the majority of Globus’s common shares. Their stake, however, has diminished in recent years. Instead, the family has been exercising influence through “Series B” preferred shares that wield considerable voting power.
As for CIT, its Globus loan is in line with a steadily rising involvement of the US bank with Greek shipping.
Earlier this year, the lender clinched tanker refinancing deals worth $44m with Angeliki Frangou company Navios Maritime Partners. Furthermore, the lender disclosed having grabbed a $123m chunk of the Greek shipping loans portfolio once held by HSBC.
