Greece’s CM Lemos is believed to be the seller of a suezmax that Nordic American Tankers announced buying late last week without naming it.
New York-listed NAT said on Thursday that it was growing its fleet to 20 tankers by acquiring a vessel built in South Korea and well-maintained by a “top shipowner” for the last six or seven years.
That description fits the vessel that US brokers are now identifying as the object of the transaction — the 158,600-dwt Cherokee (built 2016), which has reportedly changed hands at $72m.
Managers at Nereus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Given that NAT said it bought the ship on a charter-free basis and that the Cherokee is not equipped with a scrubber, a price of $72m further strengthens asset values in the tanker space.
According to VesselsValue, the last comparable suezmax sold in that age was the 157,500-dwt Namsen (renamed GH Holiday, built 2016), which changed hands in August at a much lower $67m even though it came equipped with a scrubber.
A price of $72m for the Cherokee would far exceed the $67m or $68m that Signal Ocean and VesselsValue estimate the ship is currently worth.
NAT expects, in any case, to be making money on its newly acquired ship from the very start.
The company’s chairman, founder and chief executive, Herbjorn Hansson, said on Thursday that the suezmax would join NAT by the end of the year, enter “a strong market… generate positive cashflow and be a dividend contributor from day one”.
It’s just another Greek asset play
A deal at $72m would be particularly sweet for CM Lemos if one considers that the company spent just between $66m and $67m to order the ship in May 2014, as TradeWinds reported at the time.
The cash from its sale would also come in very handy as the company renews its fleet with even more modern ships in the product tanker space.
CM Lemos, in July, took delivery from Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding of the scrubber-fitted 110,000-dwt LR2 tanker Sea Star (built 2023) — a ship it bought from Vitol in November 2022 in a resale deal worth $74m or $75m.
This came about one year after the company debuted in the LR2 segment with an order for three such newbuildings at the same yard for more than $65m each.
Hyundai Vietnam is expected to deliver the first ship in 2024 and the remaining two in 2025.
CM Lemos’ active fleet on the water consists of 10 tankers and three bulkers. All its ships, except its two capesize bulkers, were built after 2016.
