Diamantis Diamantides has won the race for the first tanker auctioned off from the Brightoil Petroleum fleet, market sources say.
Diamantides is known to be actively pursuing opportunities in the big tanker space ahead of an anticipated upturn around IMO 2020.
His Delta Tankers is understood to have bought the 318,000-dwt Brightoil Glory (built 2012), which TradeWinds reported earlier this week to have been auctioned by the High Court of Hong Kong.
Delta officials have yet to respond to requests for comment.
If the $58m deal is confirmed, it would extend a busy period for Delta and Diamantides in the tanker market.
He has shown an appetite for distressed deals of late, picking off a trio of suezmaxes during the auction of the Toisa fleet.
His dry cargo company Marmaras Navigation also purchased four bulkers during the same sales process.
Delta entered the VLCC market last year, buying three GC Tankers VLCCs and is said to be one of the few genuine buyers in the second-hand big tanker space today.
Delta has a fleet of 30 tankers on the water across the VLCC, suezmax and aframax sectors.
As TradeWinds reported earlier this week, the Birghtoil Glory deal marked the first sale of Brightoil tonnage, after a period in which the company’s VLCCs have been in constant focus.
Brightoil said last summer it was exploring the sale of a number of tankers, but later pivoted after the market took off and new deals were announced.
The Brightoil Glory had been arrested in January at the request of German bank Nord L/B, which demanded that Singapore-headquartered Brightoil pay off its debts under a ship-mortgage agreement related to the VLCC.
Today TradeWinds reported the owner aims to have the lion’s share of its arrested tankers back in trading over the next few months.
In an exclusive interview with TradeWinds, chief executive Stephen Qi Jun said the shipowner is restructuring and is in talks with western lenders to forge refinancing deals.
Brightoil’s restructuring plans focus on a 14-vessel fleet, although it may have to reduce that number in the near future as more of its ships come up for auction.
The High Court of Singapore this week ordered the sales of the 107,500-dwt aframax tanker Brightoil Lion (built 2010) and the 319,800-dwt Brightoil Grace (built 2013).
They are to be sold via a sealed-bid tender on 4 June.
A South Korean court is said to be preparing to auction the 319,900-dwt Brightoil Gravity (built 2012).
Shipping players question whether Brightoil will be able to sort out the claims made against the company as more of its vessels are put up for auction. However, Qi remains optimistic that it can prevent further auctions.
Harry Papachristou contributed to this article
