Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company (GBSC) is poised to exit the tanker sector with the sale of four product carriers estimated to be worth around $30m en-bloc.
The 40,000-dwt Manuela Bottiglieri, Alessandra Bottiglieri, Ghetty Bottiglieri and Mariella Bottiglieri (all built 2002) are expected to fetch between $7.5m to $8m each, according to some estimates.
Managing director Mariella Bottiglieri confirmed that the vessels would be sold, but she was unable to comment further.
It is understood that the four product tankers are being sold as part of plan by creditors to recover nearly $400m of GBSC debt.
The Naples-based company is proceeding with a debt restructuring plan hatched by the Bottiglieri family and its private equity partner Bain Capital Credit.
The scheme is moving ahead after Italian courts blocked an alternative restructuring plan launched Lighthouse, a joint venture formed by Petros Pappas-led Oceanbulk Maritime and Raffaele Zagari-led Augustea Holdings.
Lighthouse argued that lenders seeking to recover GBSC debt would support its bid, which envisaged an injection of working capital in GBSC and the gradual sale of the company’s fleet of ten 93,000-dwt post-panamax bulkers, a capesize and four product tankers over a 10-year period.
That led Bottiglieri and Bain to sweeten their offer, increasing total receivables to the banks to $205m from $166m in their initial proposal.
That Bain/Bottiglieri plan was approved by creditors on 26 February, when a Naples court rejected an attempt by Lighthouse to stop creditors meeting and suspend the voting process. The legal fracas came to an end in July after an Italian court rejected an appeal launched by Lighthouse.
Concern over the health of the Neapolitan shipping community were highlighted by a 92-year-old shipowner at a shipping conference in Naples this week.
Peppino D’Amato, the head of Perseveranza di Navigazione, directly warned one of the Italy’s most senior politicians that the national fleet was “doomed to disappear” without more help from government policies.
D’Amato said ministers in Rome were “not really paying attention” to the fact that “companies are shutting down and jobs being lost.”
He demanded a personal meeting as soon as possible with the government to explain what policies were needed.
The celebrated owner had been in the audience listening to a round table debate at the 2018 Shipping and the Law conference in the famous port city.
But he insisted on taking to the stage so he could deliver his impassioned plea directly to Roberto Fico, the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies who was there.
