After a $220m sale of Star Bulk Carriers' stock last month, US investment giant Oaktree Capital Management is about to divest a further, but smaller, holding in the New York-listed dry bulk player.
The company announced after the market close on Monday that funds affiliated with Oaktree began a secondary offering of close to 2.4m shares of Star Bulk stock. The shares were trading at $22.5 apiece on 21 June, giving the holding that is up for grabs a market value of about $53m.
Oaktree currently holds 27.75% of Star Bulk’s shares. After the planned sale, its stake in the company would fall to 25.35%, according to TradeWinds' calculations.
The private equity company, which began its investment in Star Bulk in 2013, sold 10.6m Star Bulk shares last month.
At the start, Oaktree used to own more than 50% of Star Bulk. That stake shrank over time, after share capital increases to widen the company's shareholder base and increase its fleet, along with another Oaktree share sale back in 2018.
Oaktree’s investment horizon in Star Bulk is not known. In an interview with TradeWinds in 2018, the company's founder Petros Pappas said that he believed that Star Bulk was “10-year money for [Oaktree], plus a couple of years of potential options”.
Star Bulk currently operates a fleet of 128 vessels, with an aggregate capacity of 14.1m dwt. Its fleet consists of 17 newcastlemaxes, 22 capesizes, two mini-capesizes, seven post-panamaxes, 41 kamsarmaxes, two panamaxes, 20 ultramaxes and 17 supramaxes.
