Globus Maritime, a US-listed and Athens-based owner of seven midsize bulkers on the water and two under construction, has unveiled several transactions aimed at raising cash while renewing its fleet.
First-quarter results released late on Friday reveal that the Athanasios Feidakis-led company has agreed to sell its oldest vessel, the 74,400-dwt Moon Globe (built 2005), to an unaffiliated third party.
The sale price for the Chinese-built ship — soon to be delivered to its new owners and scheduled to pass its special survey late next year — was $11.5m before commissions.
Globus is selling its oldest ship five months after taking delivery of the first newbuilding it ordered since its establishment in 2006.
The 63,700-dwt GLBS Hero (built 2024), built at Nihon Shipyard, cost $37.5m, the final $18.5m tranche of which was paid on 22 January.
The GLBS Hero is mortgaged against an almost fully drawn-down $23m five-year loan from Marguerite Maritime, a Panamanian subsidiary of an unidentified Japanese leasing company.
The loan carries interest at Term SOFR plus a margin of 2.3% per annum and has been used “for general corporate purposes”.
Globus carried out more financial engineering for a second newbuilding it has under construction at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering in China. Delivery is expected in the third quarter.
The company has entered into a $28m sale-and-leaseback deal for the 64,000-dwt GLBS Might (built 2024) with SK Shipholding, a subsidiary of Japan’s Shinken Bussan. Globus is obliged to buy back the ship at the end of its 10-year charter period.
Globus also has another newbuilding under construction at Nantong Cosco that is due for delivery at the end of this year.
“We are very excited for the upcoming delivery of our new fuel-efficient newbuildings,” the company said in its earnings release on Friday.
“We remain committed to renewing our fleet with only fuel-efficient modern vessels; an effort that began a few years ago and is now bearing fruit and has transformed the profile of our fleet.”
The delivery of its first newbuilding in January was not enough, however, to generate a profit.
Globus, which employs almost all its ships in the spot market, reported a net loss of $299,000 in the first quarter, compared with a net income of $2.6m in the same period of 2023.
Total revenue dropped by 10% to $7.7m. Another reason for the loss is that the company did not repeat $4m in gains from an impairment reversal it had benefited from in the first quarter of 2023.
Members of the Feidakis family and company directors used to own the majority of Globus’ common shares.
Their stake, however, has diminished to 26.5%, according to its most recent annual filing. The family has been exercising influence through “Series B” preferred shares instead, which wield considerable voting power.
Major Globus shareholders with stakes between 5% and 10% include Steven Boyd-led Armistice Capital, Mitchell Kopin and Daniel Asher-led Intracoastal Capital, Jeff Easton-led Lind Global Macro Fund and Sander Gerber-led Hudson Bay Master Fund.
