Borealis Maritime has made its first foray into the offshore sector with a $100m distressed-asset fund.
The Borealis-managed fund has emerged as the buyer of two laid-up platform supply vessels, the 3,300-dwt OOC Emerald and OOC Sapphire (both built 2013).
Borealis made the move into offshore to diversify its operations. It already has a presence in the containership, dry bulker and tanker sectors.
The identity of the third-party investor in the distressed-asset fund remains unclear, but it is neither KKR nor Oak Hill Advisors, with which Borealis has established a debt fund.
TradeWinds reported in October that Oslo-listed SD Standard Drilling had sold two laid-up PSVs formerly owned by collapsed World Wide Supply.
The vessels' owner, New World Supply (NWS), in which SD Standard Drilling has a 26.2% stake, offloaded the former World Sapphire and World Emerald, which had been in lay-up in Spain since late 2016.
Clarksons estimated that the vessels were sold for between $6m and $9m each, above the $5.25m per ship that NWS paid.
