New Italian shipping financier illimity Bank is plotting further maritime investments after sealing a loan deal with Navigazione Montanari.
The lender, founded in 2018 by banker and former Italian government minister Corrado Passera, broke cover at the start of May with an announcement that is was providing €35m ($42m) to the domestic shipowner to finance two tanker purchases.
But the bank told TradeWinds this was not its first shipping deal, although it declined to reveal details of any others.
The lender added: "Further shipping loan opportunities will be selectively evaluated in such a strategic sector."
A spokeswoman for illimity has confirmed that the two Montanari tankers are secondhand product carriers, the 50,000-dwt Leopard Moon and Leopard Sun (both built 2013), which have been renamed Valle Luna and Valle Sole.
In late March, Grindrod Shipping of Singapore said it had sold the pair for $21.4m each without naming the buyer.
The pair, constructed by South Korea’s SPP Shipbuilding, had previously been under the commercial management of Vitol affiliate Mansel.
VesselsValue estimates a value of around $22m for each of the ships.
Montanari wanted the ships to continue a fleet renewal.
The six-year facility is backed by the Italian export credit agency SACE through its "Garanzia Italia" (Italian Guarantee) programme. Terms were not disclosed.
"Shipping, in general, is a sector of particular importance. It acts as the backbone of trade, and the fact that it is taking off again is a positive sign for the whole economic ecosystem," said illimity.
Montanari is listed with 18 tankers, from handysizes up to suezmaxes.
All of these were built between 2001 and 2009, bar one MR constructed in 2013.
Older tankers sold
In October, the shipowner sold a trio of 2001-built, 42,700-dwt tankers to Goodwill Maritime of the United Arab Emirates for a combined $21m, having offloaded a sistership to Ginza Shipping of China for $7.3m in June.
illimity was founded and is led by Passera, the former chief executive of banking group Intesa Sanpaolo.
Passera, 66, served as minister of economic development, and simultaneously of infrastructure and transport, in the Mario Monti cabinet between 2011 and 2013.
illimity's formation began in January 2018 with the launch of the special purpose acquisition company SPAXS, which raised a record €600m on the Italian market.
SPAXS subsequently acquired Banca Interprovinciale, forming illimity through a merger.
