Hayfin has won a petition to auction a suezmax tanker controlled by Turkish shipowner Advantage Tankers in South Africa next month, according to a court document seen by TradeWinds.
The 156,658-dwt Advantage Sky (built 2010) will go under the hammer on 6 April in Cape Town.
According to a legal source involved, Hayfin, the mortgagee of the vessel, filed the petition following “various events of default”.
The vessel, which was on charter to Shell, has been under arrest in Durban since August 2018 after being seized following legal disputes between the ship’s previous owner, Turkey's Geden Lines, and ICON Capital.
“There is a judgment that's awaited as to whether or not that ICON arrest is a good arrest or bad arrest,” the source said.
“But the mortgagee has bought its own claim against the vessel and is enforcing its own rights.”
Information on the size of mortgage claim cannot be immediately obtained. Representatives of Hayfin, Advantage Tankers, Shell, and ICON either did not reply to emails seeking comment or declined to speak on this matter.
VesselsValue estimated the value of Advantage Sky at $30.1m on a clean sale basis. The court sale will be inclusive of any bunker on board, according to the document.
In June TradeWinds reported that Advantage Tankers was looking to recoup $10.3m in a Manhattan federal court over the alleged wrongful arrest of the ship.
The defendants in that case included Icon Equipment and Corporate Infrastructure Fund Fourteen Liquidating Trust, an Icon Capital-run fund that provided a parent company guarantee in the South African dispute. An affiliate of Geden was also named.
But the lawsuit was quickly thrown out by Manhattan federal District Judge Jesse Furman.
The Advantage-ICON row centred on the ownership of the vessel following a reorganisation of Geden in 2013.
Turkish billionaire Mehment Emin Karamehment transferred the business to his daughter, Gulsun Nazli Karamehment-Williams. But the elder Karamehment allegedly stayed in control of the new Advantage, while Karamehment-Williams owns 85%.
ICON claimed the ship remained under the control of Geden and took Advantage to court in South Africa, saying the Karamehment-Williams outfit owned ICON $75.1m after defaulting on charter payments for three ships.
While the Advantage Sky was arrested by ICON, the court proceeds from ship sale will be distributed to Hayfin first, the source said. Any leftover would then be distributed to ICON if the investment firm wins its case.
