Orix Corp made headlines over the summer when it ordered a pair of newly-designed spacious ultramaxes at Tsuneishi Shipbuilding.
Some of the funds it raised for the newbuildings may be coming from a string of bulker sales that the Japanese investment conglomerate has been less communicative about.
None of the transactions have been straight asset plays. However, they seem to have yielded a good return for Orix and its partners, who sold at firm prices up to six ships they had been trading for several years.
In the biggest of these transactions, Athens-based brokers report that the 58,600-dwt sisterships Million Bell and Glad Mark (both built 2012) are changing hands for $44m en bloc.
The vessels are to be delivered to their new, unidentified owners in the first quarter of next year. The price they fetched approaches the market value they had when Orix took delivery of them as newbuildings.
Orix managers declined comment.
Many hats
Public information sources and shipping directories are unclear about the actual ownership of the Million Bell and the Glad Mark.
Clarksons lists Japan’s Fukujin Kisen as their owner and Orix as financial lessor of the Million Bell. VesselsValue and IHS Markit, by contrast, feature both under Orix ownership.
Conflicting information also extends to the size of Orix’s fleet. In a press release in July to announce its ultramax newbuilding order, the company said that it owned 25 vessels — mostly bulkers employed by international grain trading houses and power companies.
IHS Markit and VesselsValue, however, list Orix with a larger fleet of about 40 ships, nearly 30 of which are bulkers.
This confusion is characteristic of the multiple roles and functions Orix has been playing in the shipping market for nearly 50 years.
The company launched a secondhand ship leasing business in Japan in the 1960s. In 1977, it set up ship operating company Perseus Shipping, which later evolved into Orix Maritime.
Early last year, it struck a partnership with Piraeus Bank to expand its lending activities in the Greek shipping market.
Off to DAO they go
In another recent deal involving Orix-linked ships, serial Chinese handysize buyer Taylor Maritime is believed to have swooped on the 33,200-dwt Maritime Faith (built 2011) for $16.75m.
The transaction would come on top of a deal last month to offload the 25,000-dwt Albatross (built 2011), which brokers say went for $12m to Turkish or Greek interests.
Earlier this year, Britain’s DAO Shipping reportedly bought the 37,600-dwt Yuna Orchid and Port Phillip Bay (both built 2015) at an undisclosed price. The Port Phillip Bay has been delivered to its new owners and is now trading with DAO as Unity Star.
The vessels had been trading with Orix since their delivery as newbuildings.
Managers at DAO and Taylor Maritime did not respond to a request for comment.
