Norway's diversified Wenaas group continues to expand its hotel investments, purchasing its 26th property.
The Prague acquisition also means the shipping business for the Lars Wenaas-controlled group is becoming increasingly marginal.
In 2004, the Manndalen-headquartered company entered shipping with subsidiary Wenaas Shipping and invested heavily until 2010, when it had a fleet of 28 vessels.
Fleet sharply reduced
Since then, the portfolio has been sharply reduced and the group is left with three partly owned bulkers and small stakes in two offshore support vessels.
Two of the bulkers are up for sale but Wenaas declined to comment on the phasing out of the company's dry cargo activities.
The Rongsheng Heavy Industries-built, 75,000-dwt Goya and Ogna (both built 2008) are owned on a 50/50 basis with JL Mowinckels Rederi of Bergen.
The Ogna was reportedly up for sale in March last year, but offers did not match the owners’ expectations.
The two ships were bought from John Fredriksen’s Golden Ocean Group for $45m each in 2007.
he purchase was backed by a long-term charter to Torm, which had to restructure the deal and reduce the rate. The Ogna is worth about $12m in today’s market.
No hurry to sell
In September, Wenaas group put the 58,000-dwt bulker Viola (built 2008) up for sale. It had purchased the Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu-built ship as the Furness Melbourne in 2013 for $19m.
The ship is worth about $11.1m to $13m today, according to estimates from VesselsValue and Maritime Strategies International. It is commercially managed by Oslo-based broker Nordic Shipping.
Although Wenaas intends to reduce his shipping exposure, he is in no hurry to sell.
The latest available financial figures for the group are from 2017, when it had revenue of NOK 2.4bn ($300m) and a pre-tax profit of NOK 623m.
Revenues from the hotels accounted for more than 85% of the total.
