UK shipping investment fund Tufton Oceanic Assets is planning further growth after bringing in a new investor.
The fund's manager, Tufton Investment Management (TIM), has concluded a corporate reorganisation that also saw senior management boost their stakes as part of a "carefully planned leadership strategy developed over the past few years".
A new financial partner, an unnamed European family office, has acquired shares from a number of Tufton's longstanding shareholders.
This has enabled the management team, led by TIM chief executive Andrew Hampson and chief investment officer Paulo Almeida, to acquire a "substantially increased" stake in the business.
No financial details were released in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
$1.1bn under management
But the company said the new partner plans to support growth prospects by investing in future funds and investments managed or arranged by Tufton, including future capital raises.
The Tufton group manages $1.1bn in shipping assets across a number of funds, including Tufton Oceanic, which has tankers, bulkers, boxships and an LPG carrier and has a net asset value of $243m.
Tufton Oceanic announced on Tuesday that it had acquired another unnamed scrubber-fitted containership for $6.75m, bringing the fleet to 19 vessels.
Tufton group founder Ted Kalborg is staying after the restructuring.
"Tufton is in excellent hands and with its reorganised shareholding structure is ready to take advantage of the many new growth opportunities we see in the global shipping industry," he said.
"I am also very pleased that the firm's new shareholder has requested I remain involved in the business for at least the next few years."
The unit has a fixed-rate time charter of at least three years to a major "investment grade" container line.
"The vessel's share of expected fuel cost savings produced by the scrubber increases the yield to greatly in excess of the company's targets," Tufton Oceanic said.
Hampson and Almeida said in a statement that they are "very pleased" with the outcome of the reorganisation, as well as the new investor.
"This is the result of a carefully planned process that leaves the existing business in its current, healthy form yet improves alignment with our investor base and provides growth opportunities," they said.
They thanked the selling shareholders for their dedication.
The shake-up is part of a group restructuring that sees Tufton Oceanic Assets parent Tufton Oceanic Finance Group (TOFG) split in two: TIM and Oceanic Investment Management (OIM).
Separate boards
TIM encompasses the existing asset-backed investment business, while OIM will be led by Cato Brahde and Jonas Andreasson and handle the existing public markets investment activities and the TRACS real-time shipping tracking platform.
Each business will have separate ownership and independent boards, management and staff.
OIM will be acquired by its management team and will continue to manage Oceanic Hedge Fund, which focuses on listed securities and forward freight agreements in shipping, new energy and oil and gas.
Brahde, chief investment officer at OIM, said: "The shipping sector has been challenged since the financial crisis due to a significant oversupply of tonnage.
"The current recovery in the sector — together with the coming energy transition — provide very exciting investment opportunities where we believe our long experience in the shipping, new energy and oil and gas industries will be invaluable."
TOFG has been renamed Oceanic Finance Group. Its chief executive, Erik Lind, said the new structure would serve both companies "very well" in their quest to develop and expand.
