New York and London-based alternative shipping financier RMK Maritime is opening up in Greece by appointing experienced shipping finance man Petros Kefalonitis.

The company wants to expand its services in the country and the southern Mediterranean in general.

Kefalonitis, who will also work for RMK's first lien loan business Ascension Finance, will be based in Athens.

He brings more than 10 years’ experience in ship finance and has a wealth of expertise in managing successful maritime transactions.

The former executive finance director at Greek tanker and bulker owner Super-Eco Management has been involved in originating and structuring over $500m in debt and equity deals, involving close to 100 vessels, throughout his career.

Kefalonitis was also previously a financial and commercial analyst at Greek-controlled Lomar Shipping in London.

Richard Moore, co-founder and managing director of RMK, said: "Greece is one of the biggest shipping markets in the world and we are seeing continued and increasing demand for our services there."

Greek focus

The boss told TradeWinds new enquiries are coming in from all over the globe, but Greek owners are obviously a big factor in RMK's equations.

"It's a natural extension to expand that area," Moore said.

"Petros will look at some RMK business for us and he we will also look at Ascension business. So it's very logical to have an office in one of those major locations."

The Athens office will be borrower-focused, while another new office in Indianapolis, US, will be angled more towards building relationships with investors.

Michael Kirk, RMK co-founder and managing director, told TradeWinds that recent growth has been down to the team.

“Obviously it’s not just Richard and I, we’ve developed what we think is a very powerful team,” he said.

“We argue it’s maybe the largest team that is solely focused on ship finance, because a lot of people at bigger banks wear multiple hats.”

He names RMK chief credit officer Mark McCarthy and Ascension managing director David Sparkes in London, and RMK managing director Paul Tomashevsky in New York, as "really instrumental in getting us to where we got to".