Beks Ship Management and Trading has bought its third supramax in eight months, topping up a remarkable spending spree this year that also saw it break into tankers.
Managers at the Turkish company confirmed the acquisition of the 55,500-dwt supramax Antoine (built 2009).
The vessel fetched $19.15m, net of commissions, according to broking sources.
As with several other secondhand bulker deals lately, the price includes the balance of a time charter set at 97% of the Baltic Supramax Index (BSI), which will expire by February next year at the latest.
Irrespective of that, the new owners will take delivery of the Antoine by the middle of October.
The Japanese-built ship is currently in the fleet of Greece’s Archangel Pacific, which seems to be cashing in on bulkers as asset values surge.
The Antoine is the third ship the company has sold since late July, when it obtained about $55m from divesting the 61,300-dwt Calico Jack and 60,400-dwt Phoenix Rising (both built 2015).
Cashing in on bulker assets
The deal for the Calico Jack, in particular, represented a remarkable asset play, as TradeWinds reported.
The sale of the Antoine leaves Archangel Pacific with two panamaxes in its fleet.
By contrast, it increases the size of the Beks' bulker fleet to nine ships.
Founded in 2011 by the Bekmezci family, which made a fortune in the Turkish textiles and garment industry, Beks has long relied on ships it has ordered as newbuildings. Its fleet consists of supramaxes, ultramaxes and a kamsarmax.
The company made its first foray into the secondhand market early this year, when it acquired a pair of supramax sisterships from Turkish peer Marinsa Denizcilik, the 57,600-dwt Densa Leopard (renamed Beks North) and the Densa Panther (renamed Beks Sky, both built 2011).
Beks' appetite for expansion has led it to branch out into tankers.
In a daring counter-cyclical move, the Ali Bekmezci-led company emerged this summer as the new owner of the 105,500-dwt Minerva Indiana (renamed Beks Indiana, built 2007) — an LR2 previously owned by Greece’s Minerva Marine.
At the time, Beks managers said the company was lining up more deals to expand in tankers.
