Monaco-based Gestion Maritime is expanding its fleet with two Hyundai Mipo Dockyard-built handysize tankers from Latvian Shipping.
European brokers say the 37,000-dwt Kazdanga and Kraslava (both built 2007) have been acquired for $11m each.
The price looks to be on the low side of the current market, with VesselsValue estimating the ships are worth between $12m and $13m each.
Neither Gestion nor Latvian responded to requests for comment.
Gestion is primarily a bulker owner with three panamaxes and three kamsarmaxes with an average of eight years.
Tanker debut
In 2013, the company entered the tanker market with an order for two 50,000-dwt ships from Hyundai Mipo for $32.5m each. The ships were fixed for five years from delivery in 2015 to Stena Weco.
The company was last in the sale-and-purchase market in July 2016 when it sold its oldest vessel, the Samsung-built 72,000-dwt bulker Matilde Corrado (built 2002), to Korea Line for $4.8m.
Vitol-owned Latvian currently has 14 tankers and plans to boost its fleet to 40 units by 2020.
Most of the expansion is likely to come from management contracts. It already manages ships for Finaval and Sargeant Marine.
