George Economou has unveiled a significant stake in OceanPal, making it the second Palios family-backed shipowner to land in his sights.
It is a move that could escalate the apparent feud between the two camps.
Economou told the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that he has snapped up more than 324,000 shares in OceanPal, giving him a 9.1% stake.
The shares were not an expensive purchase for the Greek shipowner, costing just under $563,100.
The New York-listed shares leapt 16.3% on Thursday, possibly after word of Economou’s investment spread, bringing the value of his holding to $694,000.
SEC records show he made the investment through his Sphinx Investment.
As TradeWinds has reported, Economou first targeted Performance Shipping in August, snapping up a 9.5% stake.
Performance and OceanPal are spin-offs of Athens-based Diana Shipping, founded by Simeon Palios and led by his daughter and current largest shareholder, Semiramis Paliou.
Economou’s investment in Performance was followed by a war of words and a proxy battle. Economou accused the tanker owner of governance violations, sought a seat on the board and called for existing directors to resign.
A New York securities lawyer representing the Performance board responded with a publicly filed letter describing the Economou camp’s claims as “riddled with baseless allegations, errors and mischaracterisations of events”.
OceanPal is a somewhat smaller target than Performance, with a fleet of five bulkers and an investment in two chemical tanker newbuildings.
