Concordia Maritime has taken a step closer to reinventing itself, with brokers in the US and Greece reporting the company has clinched a deal to sell three of its four remaining ships.
The reports come less than a week after Concordia said it was targeting a reboot from its role as a product tanker owner.
The $90m en bloc transaction is said to involve the 65,100-dwt Stena Progress (built 2009), 64,800-dwt Stena Penguin (built 2010) and the 65,100-dwt Stena Premium (built 2011).
Concordia chief executive Erik Lewenhaupt did not respond to a request for comment. On previous occasions, he had stated that, as a listed entity, Concordia does not comment on rumours and only communicates to the market when it has something to report.
But TradeWinds reported on Thursday that Lewenhaupt had said the Swedish company was evaluating its future options as a shipping company.
Cash-strapped Concordia sold seven ships in 2022 to bring down its debt and prepare itself for a strategy reboot after being unable to fully exploit the boom in product tanker rates.
That was due to a deal the company struck in 2021 with majority shareholder Stena AB, which put the 10 ships it had at the time on five-year charters guaranteeing them a long-term income.
The deal saved Concordia about 18 months ago, but it limited its gains from the sharp rise in rates on the spot market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The brokers reporting this week a sale of the Stena Progress, Stena Penguin and Stena Premium said the $90m price tag for the three ships includes a consideration for the balance of their ongoing time charters.
These are known to have earned the vessels $20,300 per day in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Find me a buyer
The putative buyer of the three vessels remains unknown.
Concordia’s previous sales are not much of a guide to guess who its new counterparty might be.
According to S&P Global Markets, the 65,100-dwt Stena Primorsk, Stena Performance and Stena Provence (all built 2006) — whose sale is said to have raised $60m in September 2022 — have all emerged with one-ship companies since and are currently trading as Zarya, Donna and Mandala, respectively.
It is likely a comfort for Concordia that as it seeks a new focus away from product tankers, it has picked a good moment to shed the old one. Had it sold earlier, it would have done so at much lower prices.
When brokers first reported the Stena Progress as sold in January 2022, one month before the Ukraine war broke out, the ship was said to be changing hands for a mere $10m.
A sale of the Stena Penguin, Stena Premium and Stena Progress leaves Concordia with a single vessel: the 64,900-dwt Stena Polaris (built 2010).
However, a sale of that ship might be tricky.
As TradeWinds reported, the Stena Polaris is bareboat chartered to US owner Crowley Government Services, which in turn charters it to the US Military Sealift Command.
Crowley secured the five-year deal in February last year. It could be worth close to $100m if all options are exercised.
