Purus Marine, a shipowning company focused on low-carbon shipping investments, is spending $61.5m on a freshly delivered LPG carrier.
According to market sources in London and Greece, the UK outfit has agreed to acquire the 39,200-cbm newbuilding Mustang (built 2023).
Purus Marine officials did not respond to a request for comment.
This is a replay of a deal last October, in which Purus acquired another such vessel, the 39,200-cbm Mangusta (renamed Green Energy, built 2022).
TradeWinds reported that Purus spent $59.5m on the Mangusta — $2m less than the price said to have been achieved by the Mustang.
The two prices, however, may not be directly comparable, as time charter elements are blurring the picture.
The Mangusta was reported sold with a charter to Koch attached and it is not known if the price of the Mustang includes a time charter as well.
Both vessels were originally ordered by Greece’s Evalend Shipping.
Evalend, owned by Kriton Lendoudis, probably turned a handsome profit from flipping the vessels upon delivery from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.
Lendoudis had booked the ships at the South Korean yard in December 2020 for $45.7m each.
They represent a sizeable investment for Purus Marine, an outfit originally sponsored by US alternative financier EnTrust Global.
EnTrust continues to co-own Purus alongside unnamed long-term institutional shareholders and an unidentified sovereign wealth fund, which is the majority shareholder.
It has amassed a fleet of more than 50 low-carbon vessels in the offshore wind, LNG, ammonia, logistics and ferry sectors.
About 300 Purus employees work in London, Singapore, Rotterdam, Swansea and Newcastle.
New ships, new fleet boss
In a separate deal announced on Wednesday, offshore wind unit Purus Wind signed a memorandum of understanding to order three crew transfer vessel (CTV) newbuildings at Singapore shipbuilder Strategic Marine.
This expands on a previous deal between the two companies to build four CTVs on behalf of Purus Wind-owned HST Marine.
Purus Marine has been busy on the personnel side as well.
At the end of January, it announced that it was bringing in Pontus Berg, previously a senior manager at BW LPG, as chief operating officer.
Berg will be responsible for Purus Tech, the asset management company that oversees the commercial and technical operation of its vessels and infrastructure equipment.
