Genco Shipping & Trading has carried out its strategic plan. It has bolstered the balance sheet, leaving it with $200m in the bank at the end of 2018. And it has built a commercial platform.
Now with those boxes checked, chief executive John Wobensmith wants to make a deal.
In a video interview, he told TradeWinds that mergers-and-acquisitions will be a major focus in 2019 as the New York bulker owner pursues greater scale.
"Every time I'm on these panels, I'm championing trying to make a much larger company of $2bn-plus in the dry bulk space, which I think would be a very smart move to lower the cost of capital [in the sector]," he said after speaking at the Capital Link International Shipping Forum.
Wobensmith's appetite seems to have grown. In August 2017, he said that Genco wanted to attain a "bellwether" market capitalisation of at least $1bn. Genco's market cap stands at $319m today, according to Google Finance.
This week, he acknowledged that dry bulk is different from the product tanker sector, where a number of M&A deals have been done in recent months.
In bulkers, more private equity sponsors are looking for the exit door, making it hard to bring together larger shareholders, he said.
But he said New York-listed Genco's preparations since starting the strategic plan in 2016 have put it in a different position than its peers.
Its commercial platform, for example, has allowed it to outperform market indices, he said.
"Because of that forward thinking, even in a situation of volatility in the capesize [market] today, we are in a situation where we can do something transformational," Wobensmith said.
