Star Bulk Carriers has sold a ship on the secondhand market for the 13th time this year, as part of its rolling, incremental fleet renewal plan.
According to market sources, the New York-listed shipping giant disposed of the 61,600-dwt Star Bovarius (built 2015) for $25m.
The buyer is a Greek player, brokers say.
The Star Bovarius sale news does not come as a surprise, given Star Bulk’s publicly communicated fleet renewal policy and the profit that the company is very likely drawing from the deal.
The vessel was worth less than $20m when Star Bulk bought it nearly three years ago, as part of a $102.3m, seven-ship acquisition from Scorpio Bulkers.
The price the Star Bovarius fetches now beats the $23m that undisclosed buyers reportedly spent last month on a comparable, Chinese-built ultramax — the 63,500-dwt CP Guangzhou (built 2015).
Ongoing interest in relatively young ultramax tonnage is also highlighted by more recent reports this month about another deal, in which Scandinavian interests paid $29m to the Chinese financial owners of the 60,500-dwt Xing Xi Hai (built 2017).
Star Bulk, which bought much of its fleet at lower prices, benefits from current market levels to shake off several of its relatively older vessels. The Star Bovarius becomes the 13th ship sold by the Athens-based company this year.
Most, if not all, these sales have been profitable.
Star Bulk booked an $18.9m gain from ship disposals in the third quarter, followed by another $15.6m vessel sale gain in the fourth.
Supramaxes and ultramaxes are the smallest type of vessels in Star Bulk’s versatile fleet of about 120 scrubber-fitted bulkers and the Petros Pappas-led company seems particularly keen to reduce its exposure to them.
Opportunistic vessel sales are part of a careful, incremental fleet renewal policy under which Pappas orders conventionally fuelled newbuildings as well, before deciding which future, low-carbon fuel and ship design to pick.
Star Bulk’s transformational moves, however, do not stop there.
Over the past three months, the company bought back $380m worth of its own shares from Oaktree Capital Management, reducing the US investment giant’s stake in Star Bulk to 7.2%.
Star Bulk’s whirlwind dealmaking accelerated even more in December when the company unveiled its most ambitious consolidation move, announcing plans to gobble up US-listed rival Eagle Bulk in a $500m share deal.
The Eagle Bulk acquisition, which is set to create a company with a fleet of about 170 bulkers and a market capitalisation of around $2.1bn, is still subject to shareholder approval.
Existing Eagle Bulk shareholders include US-listed rivals Danaos Corp and Castor Maritime, which respectively hold 17% and 15% stakes in Eagle Bulk.
