Diamantis Diamantides company Delta Tankers continues to capitalise on the misfortunes plaguing Brightoil Holdings, this time placing a winning bid on a VLCC that went under the hammer in South Korea last Tuesday.
Sources within the Greek tanker community reported this week that Delta Tankers bought the 320,000-dwt VLCC Brightoil Gravity (built 2012) for $61.5m from the cash-strapped Hong Kong-based oil trader and shipowner.
It had been suggested earlier that the ship had been sold to Chinese interests.
Second success
The Brightoil Gravity is the second Brightoil VLCC to have been acquired by Delta Tankers.
The company bought the 320,000-dwt Brightoil Glory (built 2012) for $58m at auction in Hong Kong at the end of May. The vessel has since been renamed Delta Glory.
TradeWinds also understands that Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Maritime was the winning bidder in an auction of another VLCC in Brightoil's fleet.
Zodiac is said to have lodged the winning bid for the 320,000-dwt Brightoil Grace (built 2013), which went on the auction block in Singapore. According to a statement by Brightoil on Wednesday, the Brightoil Grace was sold for SGD 71.5m.
The company anticipates that the rest of the tanker fleet will continue to be disposed [of], with the proceeds to be applied further for satisfaction of the group’s liabilities
Brightoil
Towards the end of last week, tanker sources were already indicating that Greek shipowner Nikolaos Vafias had won the race for the 107,500-dwt aframax tanker Brightoil Lion (built 2010), which was also auctioned last Tuesday. Speculation at the time indicated that Vafias had bid in the region of $26m for the ship.
Brightoil disclosed that the vessel was sold for SGD 36.6m ($26.8m).
Restructuring plans sunk
Brightoil is now left with one VLCC, three aframax tankers and six bunker tankers, all of which are under arrest.
The company said the $201.58m raised at the recent auctions would go towards repaying its liabilities.
The auctions appear to have killed the outfit’s plans to restructure its debt through sale-and-leaseback deals for its fleet.
“The company anticipates that the rest of the tanker fleet will continue to be disposed [of], with the proceeds to be applied further for satisfaction of the group’s liabilities,” Brightoil said in a statement filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Strong interest
Given the strong buying interest that Brightoil’s larger tankers have attracted at auction so far, the courts in Hong Kong and China will no doubt also be able to sell the company’s last VLCC and three aframax tankers at prices close to market value when they are eventually put up for auction.
Less certain results await Brightoil’s six bunker tankers, which are under arrest in Singapore. Officials at the offices of the Sheriff of Singapore have in the recent past struggled to sell similar vessels, with multiple auctions producing few takers willing to offer anything close to their estimated market values.
The keen interest in Brightoil's VLCCs confirms a rush for tankers in the market lately. Even companies that so far have been strangers to the sector have bought oil carriers this week, possibly encouraged by upbeat forecasts that new IMO 2020 sulphur-cap regulations will boost trade in petroleum products.
As a case in point, boxship player Performance Shipping Inc announced on Tuesday that it was buying two aframaxes.
"Activity is high, sentiment remains bullish and many owners argue that the healthy S&P market we experienced in 2019 is just the beginning of the so called 'IMO story' that has started to play out and will come in full effect coming into the fourth quarter of 2019," said Ilias Lalaounis, an S&P broker with Athens-based Intermodal in a report.
Holly Birkett contributed to this story
