Nasdaq-listed Castor Maritime has pulled off its biggest secondhand coup to date with an en-bloc deal for five product tankers.
The rapidly expanding Cyprus-based owner said it is paying $49.5m for the South Korean-built ships.
Castor is getting its hands on two unnamed, 2006-built MR1 carriers, two aframax/LR units built in 2004 and a 2002-built aframax/LR2.
The seller is an unaffiliated third-party.
The vessels will join the fleet in the second quarter of this year.
Brokers had previously linked Castor to a deal for three Cido Shipping tankers: the 100,000-dwt sisterships LR2 Pioneer and LR2 Polaris (both built 2008) and the 110,000-dwt LR2 Poseidon (built 2009).
But the new acquisitions do not match these specifications.
Biggest deal so far
Castor chief executive Petros Panagiotidis said: "We are excited to announce our largest purchase transaction thus far, with the en-bloc acquisition of five tankers.
"Since our entry into the tanker market earlier this year, we have managed to swiftly grow our tanker fleet to eight vessels."
Castor will have a full fleet of 23 vessels when all of its recent purchases are handed over.
“This diversification allows us to pursue attractive opportunities across different shipping sectors,” Panagiotidis said.
The 15-ship bulker fleet consists of one capesize, six kamsarmaxes and eight panamaxes.
Two days after previous deal
The eight-vessel tanker fleet will comprise one aframax, five aframax/LR2s and two MR1s.
The latest deal was done two days after Castor struck again in the sale-and-purchase market, adding a Chinese-built panamax bulker.
The company is spending $14.5m on the unnamed 2011-built vessel, and delivery is set for May.
Castor has now spent $280m on 20 vessels since July last year.
Athens-based brokers said the company is also in the race to acquire two more bulkers: the 78,100-dwt Nord Sirius (built 2012) for about $19.5m and the Nissen Kaiun-owned, 182,300-dwt capesize Eibhlin (built 2011) for about $30m.
The company has said there is still "significant capital on hand".
At the beginning of April, Castor announced a fresh round of fundraising via a securities purchase agreement with unnamed institutional investors.
Maxim Group acted as sole placement agent for the offering, which was expected to generate gross proceeds of $125m.
