Ismini Panagiotidi-controlled Pavimar Shipping has filed papers to spin off a bulker-owning company in a New York IPO.
The deal, if it goes through, would turn listing shipowning companies in the Big Apple into a family trade, as it is the third by a member of Greece’s Panayotides family.
Icon Energy plans to start out small with a single panamax bulker, the 77,300-dwt Alfa (built 2006), in a deal in which $5m to $7.5m worth of its shares would be sold in the IPO, according to a preliminary prospectus.
Icon Energy intends to list its shares under ticker symbol ICON on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
The IPO is targeting a range of $4 to $6 per share.
Maxim Group, the New York investment bank known in shipping for its work helping small-cap Greek shipowners to raise cash in the capital markets, is the deal’s sole book-runner.
Once the deal is closed, underwriters will have options to buy about 188,000 additional shares, potentially bringing the total deal value to range from $5.75m to $8.63m.
After transaction costs, net proceeds are expected to be around $4.6m, based on selling at the middle of the target range, or $5.5m if underwriters strike on their 45-day options.
The company plans to use the cash for general corporate purposes, a catch-all phase that it said could include fleet expansion.
Panagiotidi, whose surname is sometimes spelled Panagiotidis and Panayotides, will be the new company’s chief executive and chairwoman.
Icon Energy told the US Securities and Exchange Commission: “Our executive management team has extensive experience in the shipping industry, bringing a wealth of expertise in all aspects of commercial, technical, operational and financial areas of our business.”
Panagiotidi, who founded Pavimar in 2014, has 17 years of experience in the bulker, tanker and container ship space.
She will join her brother Petros Panagiotidis, chief executive of Castor Maritime, among the ranks of the Nasdaq-listed shipping company bosses. Their father, Gabriel “Villy” Panayotides, founded Excel Maritime Carriers, which sold its ships to Star Bulk Carriers.
Despite the use of the word energy in its name, Icon is pitching itself as a bulker owner.
Pavimar, which has Panagiotidi as chief executive and co-founder, will provide commercial and technical management services, among other roles it will play for its public affiliate.
TradeWinds reported in March 2021 that Athens-based Pavimar picked up the Alfa for $10m.
Clarksons lists the company with a fleet of 11 bulkers.
