UK shipping fund Tufton Oceanic Assets has returned as a buyer a week after disposing of two bulkers.
The London-listed owner said it is acquiring a chemical tanker for $9.8m and a handysize bulker for $13.35m, without naming the vessels.
On 17 May, the company sold two handysizes — half of its dry fleet — for $20.5m combined, telling TradeWinds that elevated bulker prices did not make sense from a buyer's point of view.
At that point, Tufton Oceanic was already looking at adding a tanker to the fleet.
Tufton Oceanic said the price for the handysize is below 90% of depreciated replacement cost (DRC), or newbuilding parity, and is significantly more fuel efficient than the two vessels recently sold for 100% of DRC.
Two-year deal
The ship has a two-year charter producing an annual yield of about 20%.
The tanker is being acquired at below 70% of DRC, and is expected to yield more than 15% in a leading chemical tanker pool.
"It made sense for us to sell two bulkers because we received strong bids at full May valuations, while we knew we were able to buy a better bulker at lower pricing because we had started negotiating that in March, before the recent increase in prices," Tufton Investment Management chief investment officer Paulo Almeida told TradeWinds.
"And we could also acquire a chemical tanker, with strong yield today and more value upside."
Not tied to one sector
Almeida, whose company is Tufton Oceanic's investment manager, stressed the outfit is committed to re-allocating capital across and within the main shipping segments as the markets and their risk-return profiles move.
The company said this is increasingly relevant given absolute and relative movements in markets since the third quarter of 2020.
The owner added that the deals also reflect Tufton Oceanic's commitment to environmental issues.
TIM continues to identify an "attractive pipeline of opportunities" across a range of the company's target sectors.
The Tufton Oceanic fleet now stands at 21 ships, including product tankers, boxships and an LPG carrier.
