Diamond S Shipping is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer as it works to close its merger with the spin-off of Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Product Partners that will create a publicly listed company.
The Connecticut-based tanker owner has been pursuing CFO candidates since shortly after it announced the $1.65bn stock-for-stock merger in November, multiple sources have told TradeWinds.
The search has drawn interest from a field of at least a half-dozen candidates, including current and former CFOs, equity analysts and commercial bankers.
Industry names
“They are all names you would know, that would be familiar to most people who work in shipping," one source familiar with the search said.
“However, there appears to be some question whether the field might be expanded to financial professionals with no background in shipping as well.”
Diamond S chief executive Craig Stevenson did not respond to a request for comment by TradeWinds’ press deadline.
Diamond S has a chief financial officer. Florence Ioannou has held the post since the company was founded in 2007, and previously worked under Stevenson for 18 years at the former OMI Corp.
Ioannou filled a variety of financial and accounting roles at OMI, which was listed in New York, but was never CFO.
Why she would not continue in the post-merger company was not immediately clear.
Some sources suggest Diamond S wants a person with previous experience as a public CFO. Others maintain Ioannou is well qualified for the post, but would face significantly greater demands on her time compared with her current private company role.
Future fleet
The new Diamond S will have a fleet of 68 vessels and a combined net asset value of about $700m, based on figures from the end of the third quarter of 2018.
Capital unit holders will receive 33% of the company, which will begin trading immediately upon the closing.
The merger is a textbook example of what bankers have called "the new IPO".
That is, with US initial public offerings closed to shipping for three years now, more private companies will enter the public arena by merging with a listed peer.
Diamond S will contribute 43 tankers to the new company — 31 MR product tankers and 12 suezmaxes.
Capital will bring 21 MRs, three suezmaxes and one aframax/product tanker.
The transaction will create the third-largest listed product fleet in the world, and one of the largest mixed fleets.
Key stakeholders
The two biggest investors in Diamond S — WL Ross and First Reserve — will hold stakes of about 24% and 20%, respectively.
Both WL Ross — formerly led by current US commerce secretary Wilbur L Ross — and Capital will place two directors on the new board.
WL Ross managing partner Nadim Qureshi will be chairman, while head of transport Harold “Hal" Malone will also take a seat.
Capital’s board members are Jerry Kalogiratos and Gerry Ventouris — chief executive and chief operating officer of Capital’s general partner.
