Greece’s Vardinoyiannis clan has likely achieved a 135% profit margin on a 20-year-old suezmax acquired on the cheap four years ago.
If confirmed, this would be the most high-profile and best-timed move in a fleet renewal campaign that has seen the family’s tanker company Avin International offload some of its oldest vessels while taking delivery of ultra-modern newbuildings.
London-based brokers report that Avin agreed just before Christmas to sell the 151,800-dwt Kriti Breeze (built 2003) to undisclosed buyers for $30.5m.
Managers at the Athens-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, it is hard to see how Avin could have resisted the temptation to sell, amid steady buying interest for tankers in that age class following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
The rationale for selling is even greater, considering that a sale of the Kriti Breeze at such levels would represent a fabulous asset play.
Avin International bought the ship in late 2018 for just $13m. The vessel, built at Hyundai Heavy Industries, was trading as Africa Spirit at the time.
Its previous owner, Teekay LNG Partners, had sold the African Spirit to exit the suezmax sector alongside sistership European Spirit, which is currently trading as Zeno in the fleet of Greece and Cyprus-based Transmed Shipping.
Other ship sale moves by Avin reported by brokers recently include a $23.5m deal for the 109,400-dwt LR2 Saint George (built 2002) and a demolition sale earlier this year of the 45,400-dwt tanker Theodoros IV (ex-Kriti Diamond, built 1999).
Avin is replacing this tonnage with a stream of ultra-modern tankers. The company took delivery of four suezmax newbuildings since 2021. That includes the 156,500-dwt Kriti Future (built 2022), which the company has claimed to be the world’s first ammonia-ready tanker.
Avin owns about 30 tankers.
Busy, little-known buyers
Tanker asset plays by Greek and other owners have become a regular occurrence in recent months.
The market and asset prices for older vessels are on fire, primarily driven by buyers based India, China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey — jurisdictions unencumbered by Western sanctions against Russia.
These interests often act through entities that are little-known and have been established only recently.
Two of them have been particularly active — Gatik Ship Management and Fractal Shipping or Fractal Marine DMCC.
According to shipping data provider S&P Global Shipmanagement, Gatik has assembled a managed fleet of 14 tankers — from MRs to suezmaxes — that operate under the flags of St Kitts & Nevis or Gabon.
As TradeWinds reported earlier this month, Gatik shares an office with Buena Vista Shipping, a company that is seeking to become an “undisputed leader in energy transportation and ship management”, according to its website.
Another pair of entities set up within 2022, UAE-based Fractal Marine DMCC and Switzerland-based Fractal Shipping, are listed by S&P as managing 20 tankers that changed hands over the course of the year.
All Fractal vessels range between MR and VLCC in size and are flying the flag of Panama. Four of them, including two VLCCs, are listed under ownership of UAE-based Teodor Shipping LLC.
Greek companies provided about half the tankers in the Fractal fleet. The seller list, however, is also populated by well-known firms from Norway, Belgium, the US and Japan.
