Augustea Navigation has sold a bulker to Sky Hero of Hong Kong after the contract it was purchased for fell though, TradeWinds has learned.
The 93,236-dwt A Navigation (built 2010) was originally purchased in March 2018 but the vessel was sold again in December, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Malta-based owner, which is part of the Cafiero-led Augustea group, bought the post-panamax from Singapore’s Yangzijiang Shipping last year for conversion into a transshipment unit.
The conversion work was cancelled, however, after long-running delays to the power-station project for which the unit was being built.
Augustea secured $8m in bridge financing from Italy’s BPER Banco in September before receiving an offer privately from the buyer two months later, the source said.
Sky Hero is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed mining and mineral trading company Jinchuan Group International Resources.
BPER Banca was known formerly as Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna and is parent of Italy’s BPER banking group, which focuses primarily on small and medium enterprises.
BPER Banca does offer ship financing but transactions have been few and far between.
In 2017, the bank was understood to have financed the 160,573-dwt tanker Four Smile (built 2001), which owned by Genoa-based Premuda.
This story has been updated since first publication after fresh information became available.
