Petredec Global shook out its second, large VLGC in as many months with the $81m sale of the 84,000-cbm Spread Eagle (built 2016).
Brokers in Athens and London identify UK-based owner Ravi Mehrotra’s Foresight Group as the buyer of the vessel.
Both companies have been contacted for comment.
VesselsValue estimates the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries-built vessel is currently worth $85.6m.
Petredec’s scrubber-fitted 83,000-dwt Manifesto (built 2013) reportedly fetched $71.5m last month from Siamgas and Petrochemicals.
However, market sources describe the price for the Spread Eagle as “decent”, considering the sluggish freight rates currently blighting the large gas carrier market.
Earlier this month — the 82,300-cbm VLGC BW Cedar (built 2007) sold for about $65m.
Clarksons’ latest weekly report shows the 12-month time-charter equivalent for such ships at $39,453 per day — down from an average $46,850 per day in October and $54,520 per day in the full year of 2023.
That weak performance may be putting off some prospective buyers.
Market sources say that an auction for the 84,000-cbm Pacific Binzhou (built 2016) has failed at about $78m.
The Daewoo-built vessel, which is listed in the fleet of Shanghai-based Pacific Gas, is not directly comparable to the Spread Eagle.
Mehrotra back in buying mode?
Petredec, a firm jointly held by the Fearn family and Saudi shipping giant Bahri, runs a fleet of 23 modern VLGCs built between 2013 and 2024.
The Spread Eagle and the Manifesto are among its oldest and they have both been trading with the company since their delivery as newbuildings.
If the Foresight Group bought the Spread Eagle, it would be its first expansion with a large gas carrier in nearly two years.
In March 2022, Foresight founder and executive chairman Mehrotra set himself a goal to build a fleet of at least six VLGCs by the following year.
Foresight did not quite live up to that target, possibly due to soaring secondhand prices for such vessels.
The company currently features a fleet of four VLGCs on its website: the 80,200-cbm Surya Veerya and 83,800-cbm Sarv Shakti (both built 2008); and the 80,800-cbm Vishvakarmaa and 83,800-cbm Manasarovar (both built 2009).
Three of these vessels were bought in 2022 from Avance Gas and TransPetrol Maritime, as TradeWinds has reported.
The fourth, the Surya Veerya, is financed by US private equity giant Oaktree Capital Management’s Fleetscape division in the UK.
The Spread Eagle transaction was not the only LPG transaction in the secondhand market reported by brokers this week.
Italy’s Carbofin has reportedly parted with the medium-size, 38,000-cbm Luigi Lagrange (built 2006) for $38.5m in a deal with undisclosed buyers.
