Theodore Veniamis-led Golden Union outbid nearly 10 competitors when it bought the 206,300-dwt Crassier (built 2007) about four years ago.
The company’s effort proved worthwhile. Purchased towards the end of 2020 from Japan’s NYK for just $14.5m, Veniamis and his family saw the ship’s value soar and have now decided to sell it at a considerable profit.
According to brokers in the US and Europe, the Imabari-built Crassier is being sold to Chinese interests for $28.8m.
Managers at the Athens-based company have been contacted for comment.
It is hard to see how Golden Union could resist the temptation to sell at the reported level.
A price of $28.8m is twice as high as the one at which the ship was bought four years ago and is well above current market levels.
Instant valuations provided by the Signal Ocean and VesselsValue online tools show the Crassier being currently worth between $25.5m and $25.8m.
The premium is probably due to the extra value buyers attach to Japanese-built vessels.
Back in September, the four-year younger, Japanese-built 206,600-dwt Golden Gayle (built 2011) was reported sold at a similarly elevated level of $40m.
In contrast, the 205,100-dwt Mineral Cloudbreak (built 2012), a Philippine-built vessel reportedly sold around the same time as the Golden Gayle, is said to have fetched a lower price of $38.5m.
The sale of the Crassier provides further evidence of ongoing investor appetite for capesizes and newcastlemaxes — especially by Chinese buyers who have long been the biggest buyers of ageing bulkers.
Chinese appetite has surged back to pre-Covid levels this year, as TradeWinds has reported.
Greek owners have been the main beneficiaries.
If the sale is confirmed, the Crassier will become the fourth bulker sold by Golden Union to Asian interests this year for total gross proceeds of more than $90m.
The company has already offloaded two capesizes to Singapore-based but Chinese-controlled Winning Shipping and one supramax to Indonesia’s Gurita Lintas.
In April, the 180,100-dwt Royal Iole (built 2009) re-emerged under its new name, Sunny Nzkore, and under Winning Shipping. A month later, the 180,200-dwt Penelope T (renamed Sunny Coyah, built 2007) followed suit.
In July, Gurita Lintas took delivery of Golden Union’s 58,800-dwt Captain Andreadis (renamed Feiza, built 2008).
The Crassier is currently the only newcastlemax in the Golden Union fleet, which consists of more than 40 bulkers, nearly half of which are capesizes.
